Gundam Wing Goes to Hogwarts
by MomsDarkSecret
Summary: Roku's been reading Harry Potter and now he wants to go to Hogwarts! The gang decides to go because it's just a book, right? It's not like they'd be messing up history, right? What could possibly go wrong? Complete.
1. Mars is still standing, so to speak

This story is number eight in my Gundam Wing adventure series

This story is number eight in my Gundam Wing adventure series. The previous stories are, in chronological order: **Gundam Wing and the Knights of the Round Table; Gundam Wing and the Quest for the Holy Grail;** **The** **Magicians of Gundam Wing;** **Gundam Wing and the Men of Sherwood Forest**; **Gundam Wing and the Gods of Thunder**; **Gundam Wing on Mount Olympus **and **Gundam Wing in the Wild, Wild West**. If you read this story without reading the others first, it might not make a lot of sense. But hey, jumping in cold turkey might be fun!

**Disclaimer**: This is an original work of fiction, but the characters of Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Wu-Fei Chang, Trowa Barton, Quatre Reberba Winner, Zechs Merquise and Treize Kushranada are borrowed from Gundam Wing AC by Hajime Yatate and Yoshiyuki Tomino and produced by Sunrise. Roku, on the other hand, is totally my creation, as are Alexa, Hadeya and Jett. Other Gundam Wing characters, like Sally Po and Lucretzia Noin, who might appear or be mentioned are also borrowed from Gundam Wing by Yatate-sama and Tomino-sama. Everyone else is made up by me, the author.

**Additional Disclaimer:** The characters of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy and any other characters from the Harry Potter book series were created by J. K. Rowling and published in the United States by Scholastic Press.

**Warnings**: This is a comedy, but you'll have to watch out for implied yaoi, not-so-implied yaoi, sexual innuendo, adult situations, occasional swearing, a general lack of respect for "decent" behavior and a noticeable tendency toward mayhem and destruction.

**Addendum**: This is my first cross-over with the boys, but if my track record is any indication, things are not going to go as planned at Hogwarts.

**Hmm**: So I spend a lot of time thinking about yaoi, writing yaoi, reading yaoi and watching yaoi. Does that mean I have gay-envy or do I just like looking at and imagining naked guys?

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 1: **Mars is still standing, so to speak**

"It was cracked!" Noin screamed. "There was a three-meter crack in the dome! I had to replace two panels!"

"The domes get cracks all the time, Noin," Zechs said in a placating tone. "Without a proper atmosphere on Mars, there's a lot of meteorite activity at ground level."

"Meteorites," Noin said while grinding her teeth, "leave tiny little cracks. Not three-meter long cracks with atmosphere whistling out of them!"

"Well…"

"Don't 'well' me! That child is a menace!"

"Jett is a sweet little girl. Heero and Hadeya are doing an excellent job training her to control her voice."

"Training her for what? So she can be used as a lethal weapon?!"

"You're overreacting."

"Tell that to the people who thought they were going to suffocate!"

"No one was going to suffocate. The emergency inflatables stopped up the crack just like they were designed to. I thought it was a good test."

"A good test?!" Noin's face turned bright red. "You… you…"

"Calm down, Noin," Zechs said patiently. "Everything will be fine."

"Fine?!" Noin choked out in a strangled voice. She raised shaking hands with the fingers curved into angry claws.

Zechs took a step back so she could not reach his throat. "Maybe you should lie down."

Noin's mouth worked silently while her face got even redder. Then she spun on one heel and stamped off, radiating waves of fury so hot Zechs wondered if she was going to set off the fire-control detectors.

"She wasn't complaining about my dome, was she?" Treize said from behind him.

"No. Jett cracked our residential dome this morning and she was a little peeved."

"A little peeved?" Treize chuckled. "She looked like she was going to rupture a blood vessel."

"Well, maybe she was just a bit angry. But it wasn't that big of a crack."

"I heard it was three meters. They had to do a shelter-in-place drill while it was being repaired."

"Well, yes, but it wasn't that serious."

Treize chuckled. "You have a soft spot for little girls, did you know that?"

Zechs frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, nothing!" Treize kissed him on the nose. "Do you have time for a quickie? They started spreading topsoil in my dome today and it got me excited. I want to celebrate."

"You can celebrate when the dome is finished."

"The dome is finished. We just haven't planted anything yet."

"Then it's not finished."

"You don't love me anymore," Treize pouted. "You hardly ever want to have sex."

"We had sex last night!" Zechs exclaimed, then his cheeks turned pink and he looked around quickly to see if anyone had overheard. After all, they were standing in the middle of the terra-forming lab.

"That was last night!"

Zechs threw up his hands. "I have work to do. I'll see you tonight." He stalked off in the same direction Noin went.

Treize sighed. "Oh, well. Tonight it is. I guess I'll go pick up Alexa from school." He took the train to the residential dome, where nervous residents kept glancing up at the gleaming semi-translucent panels overhead as if expecting them to crumble into dust at any moment.

At the school, Alexa jumped off the play structure with an excited squeal. "Daddy! I didn't know you were going to pick me up!" She leaped into his arms from a considerable distance away.

Treize grunted as she hit his chest. "We started spreading topsoil today so I came home early. How about we eat some ice cream to celebrate?"

"Yay!" Then Alexa's face turned serious. "But Mommy says it's not right to eat dessert before dinner."

"Mommy's not home," Treize whispered in her ear. "I won't tell him if you don't."

"Okay!" Alexa giggled. "Guess what?"

"The dome got cracked?"

"Not that, silly! I passed my math test! I got one hundred percent!"

"Good girl! You definitely deserve ice cream, with chocolate sauce and whipped cream."

"Hooray!" Alexa squirmed out of his arms and raced ahead. "Ice cream! Ice cream!"

Treize followed her with an indulgent smile on his face. "Maybe Zechs isn't the only one with a soft spot for little girls."

The Gundam pilots had been home on Mars for six months; their longest stint on the planet so far. Despite Noin's objections, they had started almost immediately on the construction of the new farming dome, financed by the sale of thousands of antique gold coins. No one had come up with a good explanation to give Lady Une where the money had come from, so they told her it was from an anonymous donor. Much to Noin's dismay, Une had declared the project a good idea, so the dome construction had proceeded at full speed.

But Noin could not really complain, because the terra-forming project was also progressing very well. Of course, no one had a really good explanation for why a strange new lichen was spreading across the rocks of Mars, turning the reddish-brown rocks faintly green and emitting beneficial carbon dioxide. But the scientists were delighted by this unexpected helper and attributed it to long-dormant spores that had been awakened by human activity on the planet. They spent a lot of time searching for these spores in the Martian sand, which Quatre encouraged even though he knew perfectly well that there was nothing to find since it was all because of Heero's sprites.

As Treize arrived in front of the home shared by the five Gundam pilots and their children, he caught up with Alexa talking with Jett and Duo.

"Hey, Treize," Duo said.

"Hey, Duo. Still enjoying the stay-at-home life?"

"You bet!" Duo grinned.

"Shouldn't Jett be in school by now? She looks old enough."

"That's what I thought," said Duo, "but Wu-Fei wants to make sure she has a solid foundation before she starts in the public school."

"I don't think she needs quantum physics before she starts grade school."

"You know Wu-Fei. He has this detailed curriculum he wants me to get through and he quizzes Jett every night. He still doesn't think I'm putting enough effort into it."

"Are you?"

"Well," Duo chuckled. "Jett and I do like riding the trains."

"Risking other domes?" Treize lifted an eyebrow.

"No wisecracks!" Duo ordered. "Jett's been very good."

"What about this morning?"

"That was an accident! Jett was startled."

"By what?"

"Well, um," Duo hesitated. "One of the fire-control drones flew over her head unexpectedly."

"Was there a fire?"

"Well, you see, it was like this…" Duo flushed. "Wu-Fei took the morning off to watch Jett's lessons and I figured, since he was home, that we might as well, you know… Anyway, he, um, shot out a little flame while we were, you know, doing it and there was some scorching and that attracted the drone."

Treize frowned in puzzlement. "Wouldn't the house sprinklers have put out the fire?"

"Well, yes, if we had been inside."

"You were fucking him outside?!"

"We weren't in the open!" Duo said defensively. "The bushes definitely hid us."

"Until Wu-Fei set them on fire."

"It was unexpected! He's been taking his antihistamines," Duo grinned, "but apparently, I was doing a really good job."

Treize put a hand over his face. "So the drone zoomed over Jett's head and she shrieked in surprise."

"Something like that."

"And the dome cracked."

"It was a little crack."

"I heard it was three meters."

"It looked small from here."

"Even with the atmosphere escaping?"

"It was cool! The temperature and pressure drop made some really beautiful clouds."

"I daresay the alarms sounded just like lightning."

"That's right! I knew you'd understand. Everyone else made such a big deal out of it. I thought Noin was going to have kittens right on the spot."

Treize shook his head. "Duo, I am not agreeing with you. Cracking the dome is a bad thing."

"I know that." Duo wrinkled his nose. "Jett and I talked about it and she promised not to hit that particular frequency again."

"She knows what frequencies she's producing?"

"Not down to the specific waveform, but yeah, she does."

"That's astonishing!"

"Why? Any professional opera singer can do that."

Treize considered that. "I suppose that makes sense. Maybe we should teach her to sing if she has that much control."

"I'm pretty sure Wu-Fei would say that's a waste of time."

"I believe everyone should have a talent," Treize said loftily. "I myself am a skilled swordsman and marksman."

"And a pretty good lover, too, I hear," Duo chuckled. "Although maybe you already covered that."

"Don't be disgusting."

"Hey, it's me!"

"Daddy!" Alexa interrupted. "We're supposed to be having ice cream before Mommy gets home."

"Quite right. Would you and Jett like to join us, Duo? We're celebrating Alexa's successful math test results."

"Ice cream!" Jett squealed.

Duo grinned. "Sounds like we're all over that action. Let's go."

When Zechs got home from work that evening, he found the four of them in the small living room of their cottage playing a raucous game of Go Fish. Now, Go Fish is not normally a raucous game, but Duo made it pretty wild by his theatrical demeanor when he was forced to fish for a new card, earning hysterical giggles from Alexa and Jett. Even Treize could not help smiling.

"Mommy!" Alexa popped to her feet and jumped into Zechs' arms. "I got one hundred percent on my math test!"

"That's wonderful, sweetheart!" Zechs kissed her cheek.

Jett clambered to her feet and tugged on Zechs' pant leg.

"What is it, Jett?"

"I'm sorry I cracked the dome, Uncle Zechs," Jett said gravely.

"I know you are, dear," Zechs replied. He patted her on the head. "It's all fixed now, so it's ok."

"A bird pee'd on Papa Wu-Fei," Jett said with a giggle.

"It wasn't a bird," Duo said. "It was a fire-control drone. And that was water, not pee."

Jett wrinkled her nose.

"He didn't start another fire, did he?" Zechs groaned. "Noin is already angry enough."

"It was nothing serious," Duo said quickly. "And the dome getting cracked pretty much distracted everyone from the tiny little fire. I'll have Heero tell his sprites to re-grow the bush and no one will be the wiser."

Zechs sighed. "Maybe Noin has a point," he muttered.

"Mommy, can we have dinner at Uncle Duo's house? I want to tell Uncle Wu-Fei and Roku about my test."

"I suppose so."

With that, everyone trooped over to the Gundam pilots' house to find the others had all arrived home from work and school.

"Jett!" Heero exclaimed from the couch as soon as they walked in, "I thought I told you not to crack the dome."

"I'm sorry, Papa Heero," Jett said, climbing into his lap.

"Don't blame her," Duo said. "She was startled by something."

Heero scowled at him. "I don't blame her, I blame you. It was probably your fault, anyway."

"It was not!" Duo declared with wounded innocence. "It was just an unfortunate sequence of events."

"Undoubtedly started by you."

Wu-Fei said nothing.

"They showed it on the news broadcast," Roku announced. "I saw it during lunch. The clouds were pretty."

"Yes, they were," Duo agreed.

"There are not supposed to be clouds in the dome," Hadeya said.

"Details."

Sally Po knocked on the door and stuck her head in. "Can I join you for dinner? Noin's about as much fun as a shuttle crash right now."

"Come in, Sally," Quatre said. "We were just discussing how it's probably Duo's fault that Jett cracked the dome."

"So it was Jett?"

"I didn't mean to," Jett pouted. "The fire-bird startled me."

"Fire-bird?" Sally asked curiously.

"A fire-control drone," Quatre clarified.

Sally glanced at Wu-Fei. "There was a fire?"

"No!" Wu-Fei snapped. "Just a little scorching! Can we eat dinner now?"

"Yeah," Roku echoed. "I'm hungry."

Trowa struck his head in from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready. Who wants to help me bring it to the table?"

"I do!" said Roku. He dashed into the kitchen with Alexa on his heels.

"How come Trowa ends up making dinner when you were home all day?" Heero growled at Duo.

"Treize and I were spending quality time with our daughters," Duo said archly.

"We played cards," Jett reported.

"Sounds like fun," Sally said.

"Come on, everybody," Trowa said, coming back in with a platter of steaks. "Let's eat while it's hot."

Roku entered carrying a tray with a big bowl of fluffy mashed potatoes, a tureen of gravy and a basket of rolls. Alexa followed him carrying a bowl filled with peas and baby ears of corn. Everyone took seats around the big dining room table and began helping themselves. They were just finishing dinner when Noin appeared at the door.

"Did I miss dessert?" she grumbled.

"No," Trowa said. "And there's a steak left if you want it."

"Duo left food on the table?" Surprise took the edge off of Noin's voice. She took a seat and stabbed a fork into the remaining steak. "Looks good." She tucked into the steak, looking less irritated than she had when she arrived.

Jett ducked her head. "I'm sorry I cracked your dome, Miss Noin. I won't do it again."

"Well," Noin mumbled around a mouthful of food, "I guess accidents happen. But you need to be more careful. People could get hurt."

"I'll be more careful, I promise."

"Good." Then Noin stopped chewing and stared at Jett. "You're bigger."

Jett nodded vigorously with a huge grin on her face.

Noin looked around. "She was a toddler when you got back. Now she's big enough to be a pre-schooler."

"Um…" said Quatre.

"It's not natural for a kid to grow four years in six months."

"It's not natural for a man to have a baby," Sally pointed out with a wide smile.

"But that doesn't mean the baby should grow faster than normal!" Noin stared suspiciously at Jett and then her eyes slid to Alexa. "Come to think of it, Alexa has grown up suspiciously fast as well."

"Try not to think about it," Sally advised.

"But it's weird! What if someone else notices?"

"No one has," Quatre said quickly.

"Just like no one's noticed the weird lichen growth?"

"Well…" Quatre said. "I've got that under control."

"Just because no one else can see these sprites you say are responsible…" Noin began.

"That's just because they're not looking," Roku piped up. "Sprites aren't invisible; they just prefer to decide when they can be seen."

Noin stared.

"Maybe you shouldn't have mentioned that," Trowa suggested.

"Oh."

"I have a headache," Noin groaned.

"I think things have been going rather well," Treize volunteered. "We'll be able to start planting in my new dome very soon. I've been dividing my cuttings for the past several months so I have quite a few plants ready to go in."

"_Your_ dome?!"

"It's just a figure of speech!" Zechs put in quickly.

"Oh, really?" Noin glared at Zechs. "I knew all along you were doing this for him!"

"The new dome benefits everyone on Mars!" Zechs exclaimed. "The construction has employed hundreds of people and the vineyard will continue to employ several dozen."

"Yeah, but…"

"Noin," Sally interrupted sternly. "You promised."

Noin subsided into inaudible grumbling.

"I made her promise to quit whining about Treize," Sally explained.

"I haven't been whining!" Noin stated loudly.

"It sounded kind of whiny to me," Duo whispered to Wu-Fei.

"Uh-huh," Wu-Fei agreed.

Noin scowled at them.

"Maybe we should change the subject," Trowa said, setting a full glass of beer in front of Noin. "Roku, how was college today?"

"Fun! We started reading a new book in my Ancient Literature class. It's one in a series of books about a boy who is a wizard; like me."

"Oh, yes?" said Quatre, "what's it called?"

"_Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_."

"Never heard of it," Duo said.

"Why would you have?" Wu-Fei said. "Have you ever read a book in your life?"

"Yes, I have!"

"Anyway," Roku continued, "I want to read all of the books, but my professor only has the first three in the class computer. It would sure be fun to visit Hogwarts, though. It sounds really interesting. I think it would be fun to take some of their classes."

"Roku, visiting a book isn't the same thing as time-traveling," Wu-Fei said.

"Why not?" Noin said flippantly. She chugged her beer. "Time-travel should be impossible, but you do it as routinely as space travel. Going into a book should be a piece of cake." She waggled her empty beer glass at Trowa.

Quatre got a thoughtful look. "Going into a book…" he murmured to himself.

"No!" Wu-Fei said firmly. "It's impossible."

"Oh, you just don't want to," Duo chided him. "I think it would be fun."

"It sounds rather interesting," Treize agreed, "but I do have my vineyard to take care of."

"Your vineyard..." Noin grumbled. Trowa quickly handed her another beer.

"If we did go," Quatre said, "we wouldn't be gone that long. And we could wait until after the planting is finished and you've trained the workers on how to tend the vines."

"That's true." Treize glanced at Zechs. "What do you think? Care to visit a book?"

Zechs shrugged. "If you want to go."

"By all means," Noin said, waving her glass. Her speech was starting to slur. "I can hold the fort here. What're a few sprites and dome cracks and grapes growing all over the place? Perfectly normal, all of it." She held out her empty glass. Trowa refilled it.

"She can't really hold her liquor, can she?" Duo remarked to Sally.

"She doesn't drink very often," Sally replied.

"You talkin' 'bout me?" Noin demanded blearily.

"I'll have to do a little research," Quatre said, "but I'm sure we can manage this."

"It sounds like a plan, then," said Trowa. "Who wants to wash dishes?"

"Duo," Heero said promptly. "After all, he let the dome get cracked."

"I did not!"

"Quit arguing!"

"Oh, all right! But Wu-Fei has to help, too."

"Me?"

"It was your fire-bird that startled Jett."

"But that was only because you…"

"Are you sure you want to finish that sentence?" Duo said with raised eyebrows.

Wu-Fei scowled. "Never mind! I'll help wash dishes." He grabbed a stack of dishes and stamped off into the kitchen.

Duo skipped after him with an armful of glasses, grinning.

"How do you plan to visit a book?" Sally asked curiously. "By your very presence, you change the story, so how would that work?"

"Well," Quatre said thoughtfully, "I think the process of entering the book will create an alternate universe and once there, pretty much anything can happen. The written story should certainly serve as a guide, but I suspect we can alter the plot to a small degree. Just enough to accommodate ourselves, really."

"That sounds reasonable."

"Oh, sure!" Noin declared, waving her glass and sloshing beer on the table. "Create reality! Why stick with this one? It's so boring!" She tried to take another drink, partially missing her mouth in the process and getting beer down the front of her uniform. "Damn!"

Sally regarded her with a raised eyebrow. "Perhaps you should turn in early, Noin. It has been a difficult day, after all."

"I'm fine!" Noin said, mashing at the beer on her chest with a napkin. "It's just a little damp."

"I think you should take a shower," Sally said.

"Yeah, maybe," Noin stared down at herself. "Don't wanna smell like beer." She emptied her glass, getting even more beer on herself in the process, and pushed to her feet. "G'night."

"Good night, Noin," came a general reply.

Sally grinned as she helped Noin to the door.

"She really can't hold her liquor," Quatre said as the door closed behind the two women.

"She never could," Zechs chuckled. He stood up. "It's time for your bath as well, Alexa."

"Ok."

So Zechs, Treize and Alexa went home, leaving the Gundam pilots alone with their children.

"Visiting a book is a really silly idea," Heero stated.

"Yeah, but it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get out of Noin's hair for a few days," Quatre replied. "And honestly, I really like the idea. I want to see if it can be done."

"That's what you said when you got Zechs pregnant."

"But see how well that turned out."

"You're a dangerous man, Quatre Winner."


	2. Hogwarts

Chapter 2: **Hogwarts**

"Isn't it beautiful?" Treize sighed. "Imagine how it will look in another year when the vines have propagated."

"It is rather nice," Zechs agreed. "It has a very relaxing feel about it."

"Precisely. I think we should add seating areas and walkways. People may enjoy coming here for picnics."

"That's a good idea. We have parks in the residential domes, but nothing this open and expansive. It will make people feel less closed in."

"And maybe it will make Noin feel better about the place," Treize added.

"Good point." Zechs looked up at the sky. "We should go. Quatre wants everybody together this afternoon in time for an early evening departure."

"What excuse are we using this time for disappearing without leaving on a shuttle? We're planning to be gone for more than just overnight."

"We're going to the Winner resource satellite." Zechs grinned. "The same pilot Noin bribed last time is flying a shuttle there, although apparently she had to agree to two dates this time. They already went on one." Zechs snickered. "Sally told me Noin got home really late and was looking rather rumpled."

"Indeed?"

"But apparently her humor has improved, so maybe it's a good thing."

"Getting laid always improves my humor."

"So that would explain why you're a giggling idiot most of the time."

"I am not!" Treize exclaimed, offended. "I am the perfect gentleman at all times."

"Except when you're trying to get my pants off."

"Can I help it if your exquisite beauty strips me of all self-control?" Treize purred.

"Don't start!" Zechs growled, but his cheeks turned pink. "Let's go."

They returned to the residential dome and found the rest of the Gundam pilots and their children gathered at Quatre's house. Noin and Sally were there, too. Noin looked rather bemused.

"The shuttle will leave at midnight," Noin said, "so you should go before morning. Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Treize and I just had a thought that it would be nice to add picnic areas and walkways to the new dome," Zechs said.

"That's a great idea!" Sally said immediately. "It would be like getting out in the open."

"Hmm…" Noin stroked her chin. "That is a pretty good idea. I'll look into it."

"Great!"

"So are we ready to go?" Heero said grumpily. "I want to get away from these damn sprites! They've been hassling me nonstop."

"They missed you!" Duo said.

"How can they miss me?!" Heero demanded. "They're everywhere I go!"

"Maybe it's different groups of sprites," Trowa said.

"True," agreed Quatre. "It's not like we can tell them apart."

"How do we know they can't go into the book, too?" Wu-Fei grumbled irritably.

"Don't say that!" Heero groaned.

"I haven't finished the third book yet," Roku spoke up. "So will we just fall into the middle somewhere?"

"I imagine we'll end up wherever you stopped reading," Quatre replied. "I planned to use you as a guide."

"That'll make it more fun if we don't know what's going to happen," Trowa said.

"With the added benefit that we won't know how badly we screwed things up until we get back," Wu-Fei added sourly.

"Cheer up, Fei!" Duo said. "We'll be experiencing literature firsthand. I would think a scholar like you would be excited about that."

"Thrilled. What if Quatre brings the whole thing to life? What then?"

"You're such a pessimist. I must not be screwing you enough."

"How is that possible?!" Wu-Fei exclaimed.

"Can we not get off-topic here?" Quatre interrupted.

"These books take place in England, right?" Treize asked. "We've been there before."

"Yes, but it will be a different era from our previous visits," Roku said. "These stories are based in the twenty-first century."

"That's not too backward an era," Trowa noted.

"Are you kidding?!" Duo exclaimed. "They didn't even have space travel! It took hours to get from one side of the planet to the other!"

"But they were still pretty good at killing each other off despite those limitations," Zechs said with a smirk.

Heero perked up.

"This isn't going to be dangerous is it?" Noin asked. "If this alternate universe is too real…"

"I'm sure it will be no riskier than anything else we've done," Quatre said encouragingly.

Everyone else wisely stayed silent.

"Well, Sally and I should get out of your way. You'll only be gone for a few weeks, right?"

"Two at the most," Quatre said.

"All right." Noin and Sally gave everyone hugs and left the house.

Quatre looked around, his expression turning sour. "I suppose everyone has finished stuffing all their excess baggage into Roku's storage space?" Innocent looks appeared on everyone's faces and Quatre shook his head in disgust. "Treize and Zechs, what about your things?"

"I'll dash home and get them," Treize said. "We have just a few small cases."

Once Treize returned with their bags, Quatre nodded and pulled out his spell book. "I don't really see any reason for delaying, so everyone scrunch together." He held the book up and intoned gravely, "Take us to the world of Harry Potter as it exists in Roku's mind." Then he opened the book and read from the first page.

The world blurred and shifted and they found themselves standing in the middle of a wide lawn in front of a towering castle. Behind them was a large, deep blue lake. A dark forest bordered on both. The sun was just starting to sink into the west and long shadows stretched across the lawn.

Roku bounced up and down on his toes, his long braid swinging. "That's Hogwarts!" he said excitedly. "It looks just like I imagined it!"

"It's huge!" Alexa said.

Jett stared up at it with large eyes, clinging to Duo's hand.

There were no people anywhere in sight, but lights were starting to shine from the castle's windows.

"Everything seems very real," Wu-Fei remarked. "It even smells like England." He sneezed and a little smoke curled out of his mouth.

"Try to keep that under control," Duo said.

"Sorry, but you know how climate change affects me."

"Let's get up to the castle," Quatre suggested.

They marched up the wide lawn to the front doors of the castle, which stood open. Inside the doors was a large entryway, from which several halls, doors and staircases could be accessed. As they entered, a tall, skinny man with stringy hair, squinty eyes and a perpetual scowl appeared out of a side hall.

"Who are you?" he demanded loudly. "Strangers ain't allowed in Hogwarts without permission!" He strode purposefully into their path and stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at them and blocking the way. A big striped cat took up position next to him, apparently prepared to back him up.

"Good evening," Quatre said affably. He put on his most disarming expression. "Would it be possible to speak to the headmaster?"

"What fer?" The skinny man leaned forward, his scowl deepening. His accent twisted the vowels interestingly.

Treize stepped forward. "I'm sure you'll understand, my good man, when I say that not all matters should be discussed casually in the open." He smiled and tapped a finger against the side of his nose.

The man's scowl shifted to a thoughtful expression, although he still looked quite irritated. "Well, that's true enough," he muttered under his breath. "All right, then!" he said more loudly, "you just follow me and keep yourselves to yourselves. Folks are just sittin' down to dinner, so you can see the Headmaster in the Great Hall."

"Thank you."

The man turned and led the way, the cat trotting at his side. The Great Hall was indeed great. A vast room that could contain hundreds of people comfortably, it had four long tables running most of the length of the room with benches on either side, crowded with young people from middle school age up to their late teens. The students were all wearing black robes with differently colored stripped scarves around their necks. At a long table across the far end of the hall, several adults were seated, most of them also dressed in black robes. Quite a few also wore tall pointed hats. But one venerable gentleman with flowing white hair and a long white beard was dressed in blue robes. His pointed hat was bright blue with stars twinkling on it.

As they entered the hall, everyone turned to stare at them and an explosion of whispered comments burst out. The adults watched them approach with wary expressions, but none of them spoke. When they arrived in the empty space in front of the rear table, their guide addressed himself to the man in the blue robes.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir, this lot here says they need to speak to you." He sketched something of a bow and stepped aside, fixing a dark glower on the Gundam pilots.

Dumbledore stood up. "Good evening and welcome to Hogwarts," he said in a rather cheerful voice. "How may I be of service to you?"

Treize made a polite bow. "Professor," he said, "may I begin by saying our visit is nothing sinister." Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "We are visitors to this fine country and hoped to establish ourselves in familiar surroundings during our stay."

"You are wizards?" Dumbledore inquired.

The other teachers seated at the table were studying them with expressions that ranged from open curiousity to naked distrust.

"Some of us are," Treize acknowledged, "and some are not."

"What?!" One of the teachers leaped to his feet. His greasy black hair fell into his dark eyes and he had to fling his head back to get it out of the way. "Muggles in Hogwarts?!" His infuriated and scandalized expression was echoed on quite a few faces, including among the students.

"Muggles?" Treize murmured and he glanced at Roku.

"It means non-magic people," Roku whispered.

"Ah." Treize looked at the man who had spoken, but he addressed himself to Dumbledore. "I gather the ability to practice magic is considered a requirement for residence here, Professor Dumbledore," he said graciously, "but I think you will find that each of us has skills you may find of value."

"Indeed?" Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling. He appeared intrigued.

The black haired man was not. "Professor Dumbledore," he said stiffly, "these… trespassers should be escorted off the premises at once!"

"Do you think so, Professor Snape?" Dumbledore replied. His lips twitched. "Have you forgotten that there are dementors guarding the entrances to Hogwarts? How do you suppose they got in?"

A comical look of shock came over Snape's face. The other teachers began to speak excitedly among themselves and the chatter among the students shot up.

Dumbledore's eyes fell on Roku. "This young man here seems of an appropriate age to be a student here. Is he by any chance a wizard?"

"Yes, I am, Professor Dumbledore," Roku spoke up proudly.

"Prove it!" Snape demanded immediately, his eyes narrowed angrily.

"Small magic, please," Quatre murmured, but loudly enough for Roku to hear.

Roku pulled three small balls out of his storage space and began juggling them. Then he tossed them into the air and all three disappeared in a flash of light. A gasp of surprise swept the hall. One of the teachers, an enormous man easily three times the size of any normal person, applauded loudly until a sharp look from one of the other teachers silenced him.

Dumbledore was grinning delightedly. "Well done!" he said. "Very well done! I think you need to be sorted into a house." Roku grinned happily. Dumbledore held out his hand and an ancient pointed hat appeared in it. "Mr. Filch, get a stool please."

The squinty-eyed guide who had brought them to the Great Hall fetched a tall stool from the side of the room and placed it in the middle of the open space in front of the teachers table. A stern looking female teacher with a tall black hat took the old hat from Dumbledore and came around the table, stopping next to the stool.

"Sit here, please," she said briskly to Roku. "What is your name?"

"Roku Winner," Roku said as he climbed onto the stool.

The woman placed the hat on his head. The hat immediately began to mutter.

"What's this? What's this? This is most unusual! Most unusual indeed! Are you sure you need to be here? Not sure what you plan to learn. Very interesting!"

Roku grinned delightedly. "I've never met a hat that talked before! How did you learn to talk? Did you used to be a person? Is there a spell on you? Do you like being a hat? I've never been a hat, but I've been a lot of other stuff, like one time I was a girl and I've been a bird and a dragon, but I'm usually a tiger, but right now I'm being a human 'cause most people are more comfortable with that because sometimes they're scared of tigers especially since I'm getting really big now, but I'm not as big when I'm a person, but I think that's because tiger's grow up faster than people. So can you be anything other than a hat?"

There was a moment of stunned silence and the hat's little pointed tip stood straight up. "Gryffindor!" it suddenly cried out and flung itself backward off of Roku's head.

The female teacher stared pensively at Roku as she retrieved the hat from the floor.

The students with red and yellow scarves around their necks began to cheer and they leaped to their feet excitedly. "Yay! Gryffindor!" they cried. "Come sit with us!" several called out, beckoning to Roku. Roku scurried over and squeezed in next to a boy with bright red hair. The youth pounded Roku on the back and others reached out to ruffle his hair and tug on his braid.

Quatre smiled indulgently and leaned toward Duo. "Please remind him what he should not talk about," he said in a low voice.

Duo looked at Roku for a moment and Roku nodded.

Dumbledore clapped his hands. "Quiet, please! Everyone please settle down!" When some semblance of order had been restored, Dumbledore looked down at the others. "Well, that was quite interesting, I must say. But if you don't mind, I'd like to continue this in private. So if you will all please follow me. Professor McGonagall, if you would please join us." He came around the table and led the way out of the Great Hall. Filch trailed after them, but he was left behind when Dumbledore led them up a hidden staircase that suddenly appeared in a wall in front of them. At the top was a large, comfortable study filled with all sorts of interesting items, including a beautiful bird with bright red plumage resting on a gold stand.

Once inside, Dumbledore took a seat behind a desk covered in papers and regarded them over the tops of his glasses. "It is most unusual to have so many people show up at Hogwarts at once," he said. He blinked at them expectantly.

"We often travel together," Treize said, "as we are bound by family ties."

"I see."

"But as it happens, Roku asked if he might spend a year studying at Hogwarts, so we all decided to come."

"Normally, only students, teachers and staff live at Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall.

"Of course," Treize replied. "We are prepared to serve in whatever capacity best benefits the school."

"We already have a full complement of professors for all of our courses," McGonagall said with a slight frown. "And only wizards serve as instructors here. You said some of you are not wizards?" She looked around, studying their faces.

"Actually, Roku and Quatre here," Treize put a hand on Quatre's shoulder, "are the only wizards in the group. The rest of us have, um, other talents."

"What kind of talents?" Dumbledore leaned forward eagerly.

"Well," Wu-Fei said slowly, "I don't mean to be critical, but I have noted a dismaying lack of academic depth in your curriculum. Magic and social studies seem to be the only two discipline areas taught, which I personally find woefully inadequate. While it might seem like mathematics and the sciences are at odds with a study of magic, I have not found it to be so in my instruction of Roku. I believe training in additional subjects would round out your students quite nicely."

"Really?" Dumbledore's eyes were sparkling. "What else?"

"Physical education," Zechs said promptly. "At the very least, if you want to turn out people of quality, they should have some training in swordsmanship."

"That's true," Treize agreed. "Fencing tones the whole body and hones the mind. No one can consider himself to be a true gentleman if he cannot fence."

Dumbledore chuckled gleefully. "These suggestions are fascinating! What do you think, Minerva?"

Professor McGonagall sniffed. "I think it would just distract the students from their more important studies."

"On the subject of magical studies," Quatre said, "why are the students taught to be so dependent on their wands? You don't really need wands to do magic."

"No wands?!" McGonagall exclaimed, scandalized.

"That's right," Quatre said. He held up a hand. "_Illuminus!_" A bright ball of light appeared above his hand. He lowered his hand and the ball of light remained floating where it was.

Dumbledore applauded. "Excellent! We must really have a class in Wandless Magic, Minerva! Imagine if even only a scant handful of the students learned! What a delightful concept!"

McGonagall poked a suspicious finger at the floating ball of light. It floated away from her fingertip. "There might be some value in it," she admitted grudgingly.

"Three new courses," Dumbledore said, making notes on a piece of parchment with an enormous quill pen he dipped in a bottle of dark red ink. He looked eagerly at the remaining Gundam pilots.

"I would be very interested in assisting in the Care of Magical Creatures class," Trowa said. "I have a way with animals, you might say."

"I'm sure Hagrid would appreciate the help," Dumbledore replied. "He is a little nervous about teaching a class." His eyes fell on Duo, Heero and Hadeya.

"I don't think we have any useful skills to teach Hogwarts students," Duo said quickly. He plopped an arm around Heero's shoulders. "Although, if you need enforcers, we're your men."

"Enforcers?!" Heero spluttered. Hadeya quickly slipped back a few steps so Duo could not involve him, too.

"As it happens," Dumbledore interrupted him, "we are in the middle of a small security crisis so additional security personnel might be helpful, although you look a little young."

"Our age has nothing to do with it," Heero grumbled. "We've been fighting bad guys for years."

"Well, then, it's settled." Dumbledore stood up. "We'll add three new courses to the curriculum and give students the option of signing up for them if they have free time in their schedules. I'll speak to Hagrid about you joining him," he nodded to Trowa, "and I'll let Filch know he will be getting two assistants. Now, if you would all be so good as to actually introduce yourselves, I'll see about assigning you quarters, offices and classrooms."

With smiles and handshakes all around, Treize introduced everyone. McGonagall still looked like she did not approve, but she also shook hands and offered to show everyone to their quarters after dinner. After that, they all returned to the Great Hall, where dinner was still going on. Snape nearly had apoplexy when Dumbledore announced that the newcomers would be teaching classes and that an announcement would be posted in the morning.

"You cannot possibly be serious!" Snape shrieked. "These… these _Muggles_ are an insult to the very history of Hogwarts!"

"Oh, do calm down, Snape!" McGonagall snapped. "There is no need for such melodrama."

Snape's mouth fell open in consternation, his face alternately going pale and then turning bright red. Then he flung himself down into his seat with his arms crossed, his face twisted into a bitter and furious expression. At one of the long tables, where the students wore scarves of green and white, furious whispers were exchanged and several of the students threw angry looks at the Gundam pilots. One boy, whose pale blond hair was almost white, kept staring across at Roku, who was sitting between the boy with bright red hair and another boy whose dark curls ranged over his head in a most unruly way.

Roku glanced over his shoulder at the light-haired boy. "Who is that boy, Ron? He keeps staring at me."

Ron Weasley, the red-haired youth, looked over his shoulder and groaned. "That's Draco Malfoy. Just avoid him, Roku. He's a royal pain in the behind and not worth knowing."

"He's probably jealous," said the dark-haired boy on Roku's other side, who was no less than the famous Harry Potter. "He's jealous of anyone who shows real talent."

A girl with thick curly hair sitting across the table, who had introduced herself as Hermione Granger, leaned forward. "He thinks just because his family is an old wizarding family that he's better than everyone else, so he hates it when someone is better at magic than he is."

"Which is nearly everyone!" Ron snorted. "He's nothing but a useless git!"

"Ron!" an older boy said sternly from above Ron's head. "Do not talk about other students in such a derogatory way!"

Ron groaned. "Shut up, Percy!" he muttered under his breath.

Percy held out his hand to Roku. "I'm Percy, Roku. I'm Head Boy at Hogwarts. If you need anything or have any questions, don't hesitate to come to me."

Roku shook his hand. "Thank you, Percy."

Percy walked off and Ron blew out his breath in a loud snort. "Don't go to him, Roku!" he exclaimed. "Percy has a huge head with nothing in it."

Harry and Hermione snickered.

"Percy is Ron's brother," Hermione explained.

"I know," Roku said. "They smell like each other."

Everyone stared at him.

"You can smell that they're related?!" Harry exclaimed.

Roku nodded.

"That's amazing! Is that magic?"

"No. I just have a good sense of smell."

"So I wanted to ask you before," Hermione said, "what spell did you use to transform the balls into light? We've been learning transfiguration, but we haven't learned how to turn objects into energy, because you can't change it back. It's very destructive."

"It's not destructive," Roku said. He held out his hand and the balls reappeared on his palm.

Hermione stared. "How did you do that? Where's your wand?"

"I don't have a wand."

"No wand?!" Hermione, Harry and Ron all stared at him. "How can you do magic without a wand?" Hermione demanded. "How do you focus your magic energy?"

"I think about it?" Roku said tentatively.

Hermione drew herself up importantly. "Just thinking about it might work for very simple spells, but complex spells require the direction provided by a wand. We shall have to get you a wand immediately. We must speak to Professor McGonagall about it before we go to bed."

Roku blinked at her uncertainly.

"Better just do as she says," Ron advised in a whisper. "Hermione doesn't brook any nonsense when she gets like this."

Harry nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Anyway," Hermione continued, "we'll have to talk to McGonagall to find out what year you'll be in and what classes you'll be taking, so we'll do that as soon as dinner is over."

"Thank you, Hermione," Roku said.

"You're welcome." Hermione gave Ron and Harry a superior look. "It's so nice to finally meet someone who appreciates me."

Harry and Ron just groaned.


	3. Settling In

Chapter 3: **Settling In**

"Do I really need a wand, Professor McGonagall?" Roku asked. He was standing in McGonagall's neat office with Hermione. Quatre and Duo were also there, but everyone else was waiting outside for McGonagall to take them to the quarters Dumbledore had assigned.

"All Hogwarts students are required to have a wand," she replied, "and robes as well. You'll need to go to Diagon Alley to get these. You'll also need to go there for your textbooks. That's the nearest place that sells school supplies, other than quills and parchment, which may be purchased in Hogsmeade."

"Where is Diagon Alley?"

"In London, of course." McGonagall pursed her lips at Roku. "Haven't you ever been to London?"

"No, ma'am."

"Well, I suppose the easiest thing would be to travel there and back by Floo Powder. The day after tomorrow is the weekend, so that would be the best time to go. I will accompany you. We can leave from the fireplace in your common room. Be sure and get money from your, ah, parents before we go." McGonagall's face got a puzzled look when she said 'parents' and her eyes flicked to Quatre and Duo. "You can exchange it at Gringott's bank."

"Ok."

"Is it all right if we accompany you, Professor?" Quatre asked. "I would like to see this place."

"Of course," McGonagall nodded and then clapped her hands briskly. "Hermione, please take Roku to the Gryffindor common room. I'm sure Percy will have a bed assigned to him by now."

Hermione nodded with a self-important smile.

"Tomorrow," McGonagall continued to Roku, "you will meet with Professor Dumbledore so he can decide what year to place you in. This will determine what textbooks you will need to buy on the weekend."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Very well," McGonagall shooed them toward the door. "You two youngsters be off so I can get our new residents settled."

"Good night, Professor," Hermione said. She caught Roku by the arm as they stepped back into the hall. "This way." The two of them scurried off.

McGonagall faced the others. "Those of you teaching classes have offices where the students may come to you with questions. Your sleeping quarters are accessed from your offices. Since you're all family," again her face got that puzzled look, "we found three offices together with access to a common room, to which several bedrooms are attached." She led the way briskly down the hall, up a flight of stairs, along another hall, up another flight of stairs, and down a hall which had tall windows on the left and a row of unevenly spaced doors on the right. She stopped in front of the last three doors in the hall. "These are your offices. If you need any additional furniture or supplies, or oil for the lamps, just tell Mr. Filch." She pushed open the first of the doors.

Inside was a comfortable room with dark oak paneling and ornate light fixtures set in the walls. There was a large fireplace on the right and several bookcases on the left. A large desk sat in the middle of the room with a couple of slender chairs in front of it and a larger, more comfortable looking chair behind it. There was a closed door behind the desk.

"The common room is through that door," McGonagall said, pointing at the door at the back. "You'll find the other offices are similar. You may decide among yourselves who will use which one. Bathrooms are down the hall and around the corner to the right." She backed out the door. "I'll leave you to get settled." She closed the door behind her as she left.

"There's only one problem," Duo said as soon as she was gone. "Roku's got half of our luggage."

"Half?!" Quatre exclaimed. He stared around at the assortment of bags and cases collected at their feet.

"Well, maybe not half," Duo said sheepishly.

Trowa opened the door into the common room. "Hey! This is nice!" The common room was quite deep, with windows in the far wall and two wide fireplaces on either side with comfortable looking groupings of overstuffed chairs in front of each one. Four doors in the left hand wall gave access to four bedrooms, each containing a single large four-poster bed with an armoire on one side and a window in the far wall. Another door in the right hand wall gave access to another larger bedroom with two four-poster beds and two armoires. This room had a window in the left hand wall. A second door in the right hand wall opened onto a windowless storeroom.

"Not bad," Duo said with a nod.

After some discussion, Alexa and Jett got the room with two beds and everyone else divided into their usual groupings and took the other rooms. Hadeya got a room all to himself and he grinned a little gleefully as he sat gingerly on the edge of the bed.

"I miss Roku," Alexa pouted.

"I'm sure we'll get to see him every day," Quatre assured her.

"I guess they'll assign us classrooms tomorrow," Wu-Fei said. "I should get started on my curriculum. Who knows how many topics I'll need to cover?"

"Don't overwhelm them," Trowa cautioned. "Your class is an elective. If it's too hard, no one will take it."

"It should be mandatory," Wu-Fei muttered. "Magic and social studies! Sheesh!"

"What will you teach in your Wandless Magic class, Quatre?" Treize asked curiously.

"I'm not sure. I'll need them to demonstrate their magic first so I can see what they know. I can probably figure out what to teach them after that."

"That seems a little haphazard," Zechs murmured.

"Well, I wasn't really expecting to teach a class!" Quatre exclaimed. "I'd be more prepared to teach music."

"Well, I think this is going to be fun!" Duo said cheerfully. "That was a mighty good dinner we had tonight and I hear the food is plentiful like that at every meal."

"Leave it to Duo to jump right to the most important aspects," Heero muttered sarcastically.

"Hey, knowing where your next meal is coming from is important!"

Jett gaped a huge yawn.

"Oops, looks like it's time for bed!" Duo said affectionately. He scooped Jett up in his arms. "But we need to brush teeth first."

"Too sleepy," Jett mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"I'll brush them," Duo said. "You just keep your mouth open. Come on, Alexa. You need to brush your teeth too. Heero, grab their toothbrushes." He left with the two little girls to find the bathroom.

Heero began rummaging through suitcases grumbling to himself.

Back in the Gryffindor tower, Hermione led Roku to the portrait of the fat lady. "This is the secret entrance to our common room," she said. "You say the password and the portrait will swing open to reveal the entrance."

As she spoke, the lady in the portrait smiled at Roku. "Password?" she said in a melodic voice.

Roku smiled back as Hermione spoke the password in a clear voice. The portrait swung open to reveal a passage into a brightly lit common room filled with comfortable chairs, tables with shapely legs and a large fireplace. There were two stairways leading up on either side of the room. The common room was also crowded with students, who greeted Roku cheerfully. Ron and Harry pushed to the front.

"How'd it go with McGonagall?" Ron asked quickly.

"Fine, of course," Hermione replied. "She's going to take Roku to Diagon Alley on the weekend using Floo Powder."

Harry wrinkled his nose. "Yuck! I hate Floo Powder!"

"That's just because you can't speak clearly!" Ron snickered. He grinned at Roku. "The last time Harry used Floo Powder, he missed where we were going by three fireplaces!"

"It wasn't funny!" Harry insisted. "That shop where I ended up was a bad place."

"What's Floo Powder?"

"It's a magic powder that lets you travel anywhere you want to go that has a fireplace."

"Oh. Wouldn't it be easier to just fly there?"

"Yes," Harry said instantly.

Ron rolled his eyes. "No, because you can't risk being seen by Muggles. All kinds of trouble heaps up around you if you get seen by Muggles while doing magic."

Roku nodded. "That makes sense. Mama is always telling me not to do things in front of people because it upsets them when they don't understand."

"Exactly!" Ron said with a firm nod.

"Is your mother a witch?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. He's going to teach one of the elective classes."

"He?" Hermione frowned in confusion.

"Yes. Mr. Quatre is my mother."

Now all three stared at him in confusion.

"How can your mother be a man?" Ron demanded.

Roku shrugged. "He wasn't a man when he got pregnant with me."

"What?!"

"Mama was a woman when he got pregnant with me. He turned back into a man later."

"That's… not possible!" Hermione choked out.

"Not usually, no."

"So did your mother start out as a woman and then turn into a man?" Harry inquired, clearly hoping for some kind of clarification.

"No. Mama has always been a man, except for a few weeks when he was a woman and that's when he got pregnant."

"How did he get pregnant?" Ron asked, trying to sound matter-of-fact but failing miserably.

"The usual way," Roku said. "He and my papas were being naughty and Mama got pregnant."

Hermione's eyes opened so wide her eyebrows climbed up into her hair. "I think…" she said faintly, "that maybe we shouldn't be having this conversation."

Ron and Harry blinked at her and nodded quickly. "Good idea. Let's just drop it."

"Ok."

Trying to recover some kind of dignity, Hermione turned to Ron. "Where's Percy? McGonagall said he was going to assign Roku a bed."

Ron swallowed. "I think he's upstairs. Come on, Roku. I'll take you up. Girls aren't allowed in the boys' dormitory." He led the way up the staircase on the left with Harry trailing along behind. They found Percy and he took them to a room with five beds arranged in a circle. Four of the beds had large trunks at the foot.

Percy pointed to the fifth bed. "That will be your bed, Roku. This room has first years in it, but they're about the same age as you, even if you end up in a different year. Do you have a trunk?"

"No, I keep everything in my storage space."

"Storage space?" Percy's brow wrinkled in annoyance. He obviously did not like not understanding. "What's that?"

"Where I keep stuff," Roku replied. He produced a thick book and held it up. "I've had this book since I was little."

Percy stared. "Where did you get that?"

"From my storage space."

"You just pulled it out of thin air!" Ron accused.

"It only looks that way," Roku said.

"Do it again!" Harry said eagerly.

Roku produced a large green apple and grinned sheepishly. "I keep snacks in there too."

"That's amazing!" Harry exclaimed excitedly. "I've only seen full wizards magic items out of thin air like that!"

Percy looked mightily offended. "Well, I'll ask Filch if there are any spare trunks you can use. You should not be using magic for such trivial things." He stamped off, his robes flapping.

"What other snacks have you got?" Ron asked, apparently oblivious to the fact that they had just finished a rather large dinner.

"All kinds of stuff." Roku's gaze turned inward. "Let's see… There are three more apples, some crackers, six bars of chocolate, a roast chicken, two loaves of sourdough bread, half a wheel of Swiss cheese, a boneless ham, two carrots, a box of raisins and a bag of cherries."

Ron's mouth fell open. "No way!"

"Do you want something?"

"Not right now." But Ron had a reverent gaze on his face.

Harry began to laugh. "I think Ron's in love!"

"What?!" Ron spluttered. "I just… that's just really…"

"Admit it!" Harry teased.

"Oh, shut up!" Ron turned on his heel. "Let's go back down to the common room."

Harry followed him, still snickering.

The next morning at breakfast, Roku bounded over to greet Quatre and the others as they straggled in.

"Mama!"

"How did you sleep, Roku?"

"Just fine. I share a room with four other boys. One of them snores a little; one talks in his sleep and the other two roll over a lot. What's your room like?"

"Quite nice. You can come and visit us after you meet with Professor Dumbledore."

"Ok." Roku went back to the Gryffindor table.

"Is that your, um, mother?" Ron asked, a little too casually.

"Yes."

"Which one is your father?" Harry asked, gazing curiously at the Gundam pilots as they took seats at one end of the teachers' table near Hagrid.

"The four on the end."

"Excuse me?"

"The four shorter ones on the end."

Hermione swallowed. "You can't mean you have four fathers. That's not possible."

"Well, normally that's true, but since Mama was a woman at the time and was naughty with all of them and there was quite a bit of magic bubbling about, he thinks that sperm from all of them combined with his egg and recombinant DNA happened resulting in me. The same thing might have happened with my sister Jett except Papa Duo is her momma. Papa Duo is the one with the long braid like mine."

Ron stared with his mouth hanging open.

Harry's brow wrinkled as he struggled to grasp all this. "So was Mr. Duo a woman or a man when he had your sister?"

"Oh, he was a woman then. But he turned back into a man after Jett was born."

Hermione put her head in her hands. Ron looked a little green.

Harry scrubbed a hand through his hair, revealing the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. "This is really weird. I don't have any parents and you have five."

"Yeah, I'm pretty lucky," Roku agreed.

"But if none of them is a woman now…" Hermione began uncertainly.

"They're still naughty all the time," Roku confided, "they just don't get pregnant when they're men." He paused. "Although Uncle Zechs was pregnant while he was a man, but that was different because Mama made the baby in his laboratory and we used magic to put her inside Uncle Zechs. He was kind of mad about that, until Alexa was born."

Hermione blinked rapidly several times. "Um," she said slowly, "you used magic to…" She stopped and licked her lips, and then tried again. "You used magic to put a baby inside a man? Wouldn't a woman have made more sense?"

"Maybe, but Mama made the baby from Uncle Zechs and Uncle Treize, so we put her in Uncle Zechs because she was theirs."

"I, ah, suppose that makes sense." Hermione did not sound like she thought it made sense.

"Wait a minute!" Ron interrupted suddenly. "Did you just say all those men have…" his voice dropped to a scandalized whisper, "sex with each other?"

Roku nodded.

Harry scratched his head. "Is it because they don't know any women?"

"No, they just like each other a lot."

"Oh."

"You mean they're… they're… gay?" Ron whispered hoarsely.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Good heavens, Ron! You act like you don't know any gay people here at Hogwarts."

"I don't!" Ron stated firmly.

"Oh, get your head out of the sand!" Harry snapped. "I could probably point out half a dozen right now just off the top of my head."

"I'm not listening!" Ron said loudly. He turned to his breakfast and began eating noisily.

Hermione, her cheeks turning bright red, also began eating.

Roku picked up his spoon, but instead of eating, he looked over his shoulder at the Slytherin table. "That Draco person is looking at us again."

Harry groaned. "He's the bane of my existence!" he grumbled. "He's always staring at me and making comments and stuff. I wish he'd just drop off the face of the earth!"

Just then, several ghosts floated into the room. One ghost, a man in medieval clothing with a bloody gash across his neck, sprawled on his hip in the middle of the table, making the serving dishes look like they were floating in a fog bank.

"Is this the new Gryffindor?" he said, gazing intently at Roku.

"Yes and get out of the food," Harry responded irritably.

"You're Nearly Headless Nick!" Roku exclaimed delightedly.

"Indeed I am!" the ghost acknowledged. He rose to his feet and bowed, the motion causing him to float up above the table and his head to tip off to one side.

Roku stood up and returned his bow. "I'm Roku Winner. I'm very pleased to meet you."

"Well met, sir!" Nick replied. "I'll be seeing you around the castle!" Nick floated off and Roku sat back down.

"I like ghosts," Roku said, "but they taste kind of funny."

"Taste funny?" Harry said, surprised.

"Um-hmm." Roku began spooning porridge into his mouth. "I used to chase them in one of the places where we lived. They were always breaking things and it made Papa Duo mad so I'd chase them back to the attic, but sometimes I'd catch them. Mama wouldn't let me keep any, though, although I don't think they could get out of my storage space."

"I see," Harry said, but his tone of voice made it sound like he did not.

At the teachers' table, Trowa and Hagrid were deep in conversation.

"So this here's me first year teachin'," Hagrid concluded, "and I'm a bit nervous about it, I'll tell yeh. Them students can be tough, with some of 'em being hoity-toity an' all."

"Well, I look forward to assisting you," Trowa said. "I've only met a few magical creatures so I think this will be a great opportunity for me."

"Oh, yeah?" Hagrid perked up. "What creatures have yeh met?" He leaned forward eagerly.

"Well, there was a giant slug, a giant dog, a truly giant snake and a dragon."

Hagrid's eyes lit up. "Ye've met a dragon? That's luck, there!" He stroked his fingers through his thick beard. "I hatched me a dragon egg one time, but I weren't allowed ter keep it." He sighed wistfully. "I still wonder how poor Norbert's doin'."

"Well, if the dragon I met is awake, maybe we can get him to drop by. Gift is always a delight to talk to."

Hagrid stared. "Yeh met a dragon that can talk?"

"Certainly. According to Gift, dragons are the most intelligent creatures in existence." Trowa chuckled as he said it.

"Well, I'll be!" Hagrid exclaimed. "I ain't never heard of a talkin' dragon. They're all just dumb beasts."

"Really? Gift would be very disappointed to hear that. We'll definitely have to see if he's awake. Quatre can look for him."

"That'd be somethin'!" Hagrid said excitedly.

As breakfast ended, students left to go to their classes and Roku approached the teachers' table.

Dumbledore smiled widely at him. "Ah, Mr. Winner!" he exclaimed. "It's time for our interview." He stood up. "If you'll accompany me back to my office, we'll talk there."

"Ok."

As they left, Professor McGonagall rose. "I have your classroom assignments," she said. "If you'll please come with me, I'll show you where you will be teaching your classes."

With an angry snort, Professor Snape jumped to his feet and stamped out of the Great Hall, his robes flaring out behind him.

McGonagall sniffed. "Pay him no mind," she said as she led the way from the Great Hall. She took them first to Quatre's classroom. It was a large room with a very high ceiling and tall skinny windows. Rows of tables that would hold two students each faced a desk at the front of the room.

Quatre nodded. "Very nice."

Next was Wu-Fei's classroom. Individual desks with attached chairs were packed tightly into a circular room with bay windows three-quarters of the way around. The rest of the wall was taken up with an enormous chalkboard.

Wu-Fei looked around approvingly. "This should work."

Last was the training room that Treize and Zechs would use. Completely empty except for two long benches on either side, it was a long room with windows up near the ceiling on one side and a row of skylights down the middle.

Treize strode into the middle of the room. "The light's good," he said. "We'll need swords, though."

"Roku may be holding one or two for me," Heero said in a neutral tone.

Quatre glared at him.

"Well then," McGonagall said. "Let me show you where Mr. Filch's office is since you'll need to speak to him if you need anything."

Filch's office was a dark, cluttered place and he was still scowling. His cat was sitting primly in the only extra chair. "So, you lot are staying on in Hogwarts, are you?"

"That's right, Mr. Filch," McGonagall answered for them. "And these two gentlemen have offered to assist you with security."

Filch eyed Duo and Heero suspiciously. Duo tried to look harmless, but Heero returned Filch's scowl.

"Long's ye don't get underfoot," Filch muttered.

"Oh, I think you'll find we can be quite useful," Duo said brightly.

"Ye think so?" Filch growled. "Well, just come along then and we'll check the grounds; make sure none of them damn dementors are trespassin'. Seems like folks just walk in whenever they want…" He trailed off, continuing to mutter and grumble under his breath, as he led the way back out the door. Duo and Heero followed him.

McGonagall turned to the others. "I have a class to teach," she said briskly, "so I'll leave you to it. I recommend staying on the grounds for the time being, especially your little girls." She smiled at Jett and Alexa, the expression softening her rather severe face, before hurrying off.

"Hagrid's class is today," Trowa said, "so I'll be busy for a while. I may hang around and see his other animals afterward. Later." He strolled off.

Quatre pursed his lips. "I think I'll go back to my classroom. I need to think about what I'm going to teach."

"That sounds like a good idea," Wu-Fei agreed. "Why don't you come with me, Hadeya?"

"All right."

"We need to get our swords from Roku," Zechs said.

Treize nodded. "Let's go wait for him. He's probably still in Dumbledore's office." He took Jett's hand. "Since Duo is busy, Jett, why don't you come with us and Alexa?"

The little girl nodded gravely.

"You know," said Quatre, "this isn't so bad. Being in a book seems no different from being in the past. I think everything is going to be just fine."

The others all stared at him.

"Since Heero's not here," Wu-Fei finally spoke up, "I'll say it for him: what the hell are you smoking, Quatre?"


	4. More Stuff and a Story Breaks Out

Chapter 4: **More Stuff Happens and I Think a Story May Break Out**

"So, Roku," Dumbledore said with his perpetual cheery smile on his face, "I sense there is more to you than meets the eye."

Roku blinked at the venerable gentleman. "You can see my storage space?"

Dumbledore's bushy eyebrows rose. "What, pray tell, is your storage space?"

"It's the place where I put stuff." Roku pulled a book, two balls, three gold coins and a piece of string from his storage space.

Dumbledore clapped his hands delightedly. "I cannot quite see the magic, but it is fascinating nonetheless. I am very impressed that you can do that without a wand. Who taught you magic?"

"My Mama, mostly, but some stuff I just figured out on my own. It's easy once you learn Latin, because Latin pulls the magic out."

"You speak Latin?"

"Yes, and Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French and Arabic, too, but I can't read or write Arabic."

"Well," Dumbledore chuckled warmly, "I think that won't be a limitation here. But if you already have training in magic, why do you want to attend Hogwarts?"

"Because your classes sound fun."

"I see." Dumbledore pursed his lips and studied Roku over the rims of his glasses. "I understand Mr. Winner is your mother."

"That's right. How did you know?"

"I may have heard it mentioned. Is Mr. Winner actually a man?"

"Yes, Mama is a man."

"Fascinating. And your father? Or should I say fathers?"

Roku blinked in surprise. "You heard that too?"

"Someone may have mentioned it to me, yes."

"They're all men, too."

"Is there really a biological relationship between all of you?"

"Yes. Mama got pregnant after having sex with all of my Papas and gave birth to me just like a normal person. Well, maybe not really like a normal person because he was partly a man and then he turned into a tiger because it hurt and he didn't want to push me out."

"He turned into a tiger?" Dumbledore leaned forward, his keen old eyes suddenly in sharp focus. "Mr. Winner is an animagus?"

"Do you mean someone who turns into animals? Yes, Mama can do that."

"And the animal he turns into is a tiger?"

"Well, sometimes, but usually he turns into a bird because he does reconnaissance."

"But you said he turned into a tiger when he gave birth to you."

"Yeah, but Papa Trowa likes it better when he turns into a tiger cub rather than a full grown tiger because he likes cubs. And Mama sometimes gets testy when he's a tiger. Papa Trowa told me he stepped on someone on purpose once."

"I see." Dumbledore tapped a finger against his lips. "Did Mr. Winner teach you to change into an animal?"

"Not really. I was a tiger when I was born, but Papa Wu-Fei wanted me to have hands so he could teach me to write so I turned into a human. But I've also been a bird and a dragon."

Dumbledore blinked slowly three times. "A multiple-form animagus! I think that might be unprecedented."

"Really? It's pretty easy."

Dumbledore smiled. "Perhaps for someone born in another form it is easy, but for most of us, shape-changing is a very difficult art. In fact, all animagi are registered because a person who can change shape could be dangerous."

"Does that mean I have to be registered?"

"Well, perhaps not right now. You will be taking a class in transfiguration and self-transfiguration is one of the later lessons. At that point, if your ability has not already come out, it will be time to put you on record."

"Ok."

"Now, then," Dumbledore picked up a parchment from his desk and scanned down it quickly. "Before we go over the class syllabi, can you tell me what was the largest or most powerful spell you've ever cast?"

"Hmm," Roku pursed his lips. "I would have to say that was when I put Midgard and Asgard back together after Ragnarok. That was really big magic."

Dumbledore stared blankly for several seconds. "Ragnarok?" he finally asked.

"You know, when Odin and the Ice Giants destroyed everything."

"Um…" Dumbledore's brow wrinkled. "That would have been… quite some time ago, I believe."

"Yeah, that was way back in the past."

"And you were there?"

"Yeah."

"Excuse me, Professor Dumbledore," spoke up one of the many portraits of former headmasters hanging on the walls. "Could you please ask for clarification?"

Roku glanced around at the portraits. All of the portraits were staring at him. Some were glowering suspiciously. Most were whispering among themselves.

"Yes, yes, I was just getting to that," Dumbledore said. He fixed his somewhat surprised eyes on Roku. "Could you please explain how you were present for Ragnarok?"

"Oh, we time travel."

Dumbledore stared. The portraits stared. Roku blinked.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should move on."

"Wait a minute!" the portraits shouted.

"Later!" Dumbledore said sternly. He smiled paternally at Roku. "Why don't we go over the class syllabi now and see what you know?"

While Dumbledore and Roku talked magic, Filch took Heero and Duo to the main gate. Two shadowy dementors hovered just outside, waves of icy air wafting off of their menacing forms.

"Those have got to be the most uninviting things I have ever seen," Duo declared. He rubbed his temple. "Even their thoughts, if you can call them that, feel cold."

"Damn creatures!" Filch muttered. "Always hanging about, giving everyone the creeps. Don't belong at Hogwarts!" he snarled, shaking a fist at the dementors. "They ain't allowed on school grounds. You see one on the grounds, you fetch one of the professors right quick to chase 'em off."

"Can they be killed?" Heero inquired speculatively.

"Don't know." Filch glared at the dementors, clearly wishing he did know and that the answer was yes. "Come on, there's more to see."

The tour of the grounds took them all over the place. At every spot where there was access to the grounds, dementors appeared, sometimes with their bony hands sticking out of their deep black robes. Filch grumbled something that sounded very naughty under his breath every time they saw one.

In the middle of the lawn, he stopped at a goodly distance from an enormous tree with long branches. "You'll want to keep your distance from that tree there," he said. "That's the Whomping Willow and it'll smack the brains out of you if you give it a chance." He chuckled wickedly. "That's a fun sight."

When they had been everywhere outside, Filch took them into the castle.

"Hogwarts Castle has lots of places off-limits to students," Filch growled darkly. "It's important to check 'em all and make sure the students stay out."

"I get the impression he thinks the whole castle should be off-limits to students." Duo whispered to Heero.

Heero smirked.

"This here leads down to the dungeon." Filch pointed down a dark staircase. "The Slytherin common room's on the first level, so you'll see them down there, and the Potions class is down there, too, so you'll see students there during the day, but otherwise no one's got business down there and no one has any reason to go below the first level." Filch grinned evilly. "That's where the torture chambers are. Used to be, misbehaving students had to spend a little time in there." He paused and an almost happy smile twitched across his lips. Then his face dropped back into its customary scowl. "But Dumbledore won't allow it." He marched off and eventually stopped outside a large portrait of a bowl of fruit. "This is the entrance to the kitchen. No one's allowed in here but the house elves and you'll not see them most of the time."

Filch had barely finished speaking when the portrait burst open and two identical redheaded boys crashed into them, sending everyone sprawling. Duo quickly jumped to his feet and caught the portrait before it could swing closed.

"YOU!" Filch shouted.

The two boys leaped to their feet and tried to take off, but Heero tackled them, pinning them to the floor by gripping them firmly by the backs of their necks.

"Ouch!" shouted one redhead.

"Let go!" shouted the other.

Filch climbed to his feet, an almost gleeful expression on his face. "Fred and George Weasley, caught in the act this time."

"We weren't doing anything!" one of the boys exclaimed.

"Honestly!" cried the other.

"Kitchen's off-limits!" Filch declared. Heero hauled the youths to their feet and turned them to face Filch. "This'll be a double-detention for you two." Filch scowled directly into their faces, but neither boy looked particularly cowed. "My office! Now!" Filch stamped off down the hall and Heero marched the two boys along behind him.

Duo grinned. "I'll just check the kitchen, shall I? Make sure they didn't do any damage."

Heero glared back over his shoulder at him, but Duo was already slipping through the portrait hole into the kitchen with Mrs. Norris on his heels.

Meanwhile, down near the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the Care of Magical Creatures class was in progress. Trowa sat attentively on the edge of a low stone wall watching the students care for their batches of flobber worms. Hagrid was carefully explaining to the students that if they fed the flobber worms too much they would die and if they handled the slimy things too much they would die and if they let them dry out they would die.

Frustrated, Hermione grumbled, "Maybe it would be easier if you told us what we could do that would not make them die," as she watched yet another batch of flobber worms wilt and shrivel up.

Ron poked at his clearly dead flobber worms with his wand. "Maybe they only have a life-expectancy of an hour. Mine always seem to die by the end of class."

"Mine, too," Harry put in mournfully.

The three of them exchanged a long sigh.

"Now class," Hagrid continued, "flobber worms is interestin' creatures. They're useful fer all kinds of stuff."

"Like what?" Draco demanded in a challenging tone. "About all they seem good for is inducing vomiting."

"Well, now, that's one potential use!" Hagrid agreed with too much enthusiasm. "Pop one into yer mouth and yeh'll empty out right quick! Anyone else?"

Draco dropped his head dramatically into his good hand. The other was still bundled up in a sling. "That wasn't a suggestion!" he exclaimed sarcastically.

Hagrid ignored him. "Come now! What else?"

Hermione held up her hand.

"Hermione!" Hagrid called on her eagerly.

"I believe if you dry them and crush them into a powder, they can be used as an ingredient in a number of potions."

"Quite right!" Hagrid appeared relieved that someone had come up with something. He beamed at Hermione. "So there's a homework assignment for ye. Look up a potion that includes flobber worm powder for next time. Class dismissed."

"That seems more like Potions homework than Care of Magical Creatures homework!" Draco protested loudly.

"Oh, be quiet, Malfoy!" Hermione sneered. "Any homework is better than no homework."

Harry and Ron stared at her.

"Did she really just say what I think she said?" Ron exclaimed, dumbfounded.

Harry just nodded.

Hermione, feeling their astonished gazes, glared back. "What?"

"Nothing!" the pair said quickly.

Hermione scowled as she scooped up her book bag and flounced away.

Hagrid stared after the children's retreating backs shaking his shaggy head. "I tell yeh," he said to Trowa sadly, "class ain't been right since Buckbeak nearly took off Malfoy's arm. He deserved it, mind you!" Hagrid added quickly, "but Malfoy an' his dad have made a huge deal out of it an' now Buckbeak's on trial." He sniffed and a big tear welled out of one eye. "T'ain't right, but there's naught I can do about it."

"Who is Buckbeak?"

"Oh!" Hagrid exclaimed. "He's the finest hippogriff yeh'll ever meet! Come over to me hut an' I'll introduce yeh."

Trowa accompanied Hagrid to his hut, where Buckbeak was reclining comfortably inside. As soon as they stepped in, however, Buckbeak rose to his feet to glare suspiciously at Trowa.

"Just give him a bit of a bow so he knows yeh're polite company," Hagrid suggested.

Trowa bowed and after a moment, Buckbeak bowed back. Trowa straightened up and spoke to the hippogriff in fluent hippogriff. "How do you do, Buckbeak? My name is Trowa Barton and it's an honor to meet you."

Buckbeak lifted his attractively feathered head and blinked at Trowa. Then his curved beak popped open and he uttered a piercing series of squeaks and squawks in reply. Trowa squeaked and squawked back. Hagrid watched this exchange with his mouth open.

After a few minutes of hippogriffian conversation, Trowa turned to Hagrid. "My goodness, what a polite and well spoken creature. Buckbeak thanks you for your hospitality, by the way."

"He's most welcome," Hagrid rasped. "But I ain't never met no one before who could talk like a hippogriff."

"To be honest, I can talk to any living creature," Trowa admitted. "It's a gift I was given a few years ago."

Hagrid's eyes went round and a reverent expression came over his face. "You can talk to _any_ creature?" he whispered. "That's a right precious gift indeed, that is!" Suddenly, he clapped his huge hands together. "Yeh aren't busy right now, are yeh? There's one or two creatures I'd love to have a bit of a chat with, if yeh have the time."

Trowa smiled. "I would love to."

"Champion!" Hagrid cried. He bustled to the door. "We'll just nip into the forest, then."

Trowa bowed to Buckbeak again. "Good afternoon, Buckbeak."

The hippogriff squawked a polite reply and settled down to finish ripping apart the dead weasel he had been eating when they came in.

As they disappeared into the forest, Hagrid could be heard saying, "Now, don't mind the reputation of the place. It's only dangerous to them as don't know what they're doin'. There ain't but ten or twenty or so creatures in here that'll try to eat yeh if they get the chance, so it's safe enough…"

Back at the castle, Quatre was exploring his new office, which had several old textbooks stacked on a shelf, two of which kept issuing desperate pleas to be taken down and dusted, when Roku bounded in.

"Mama, guess what?"

"What?"

"Professor Dumbledore says I know enough to go in with the third years, once I get my wand and textbooks and supplies."

"Congratulations!" Then Quatre stared at him suspiciously. "How many of our secrets did you give away?"

Roku grinned. "Professor Dumbledore is really smart."

Quatre sighed. "That has to be a new record for spilling the beans."

"I don't think he'll tell anyone."

"Oh, good." Quatre did not sound convinced. "Did you mention that you already started attending college?"

"No. We just talked about magic."

"Well, it is a school for magic, so I suppose that's to be expected."

"May we go in your common room? I need to fluff my fur."

"Sure."

They went into the Gundam pilots' common room and Roku immediately shifted into tiger form. He shook furiously.

"That's better," he purred. "Professor Dumbledore said people who can turn into animals have to be registered, but that he wouldn't register me right away if I didn't change in front of anyone."

"Oh really? Did you tell him I can change forms?"

"Yeah, but I don't think he plans to make you register."

"How thoughtful."

Roku rolled onto his back and waggled his paws in the air. "Will you rub my tummy?"

"Sure."

A few minutes later, Treize and Zechs entered with Alexa and Jett. Seeing Roku lying on the floor, both girls immediately zoomed across the room and leaped onto the young tiger with squeals of joy.

"Roku! We missed you!"

Roku rolled over and pinned them to the floor with his big front paws and proceeded to lick their faces liberally.

"Ew!" Alexa squealed.

"Eeee!" Jett shrieked. The lamps on the walls tinkled but nothing broke. "Sorry!" Jett squeaked.

Zechs groaned as he stared at Alexa's suddenly sopping face. "She was clean!" he exclaimed mournfully.

"I'm sure they have baths here," Treize said with a chuckle.

"Undoubtedly, but do we have to use them on the very first day?"

"This is the second day."

Zechs glowered at him. Treize blinked innocently.

"We've been looking for you, Roku," Treize said, changing the subject with a slight smile. "We need to get our swords from you."

"Ok," Roku replied, in between applying liberal doses of tiger spit.

Alexa squirmed out from under Roku's paw and scrambled out of range of his tongue. "Is it lunchtime yet? I'm hungry!"

"Me, too!" Jett cried.

"Should be," Quatre said. "Let's go down."

Roku returned to human form, Treize and Zechs used their handkerchiefs to reduce the slobber-load on Alexa and Jett's faces and everyone trooped downstairs to the Great Hall. Students were already starting to assemble for lunch and Roku hurried over to the Gryffindor table towing Alexa and Jett.

"Hey, Roku!" Harry greeted him. "How did your meeting with Dumbledore go?"

"Great! He put me in third year."

"That's excellent!" Ron said excitedly. "That means you'll be in classes with us."

Roku nodded. "Yeah. I'm in all the same classes as Harry."

"Neat!"

While they were talking, Jett climbed up onto the bench and surveyed the empty table with disappointment. "I'm hungry!" she pouted.

"Lunch will appear soon," Hermione said. She gazed curiously at Jett.

"This is my sister Jett," Roku introduced her. "And this is my cousin Alexa."

"How do you do?" Hermione said.

"You have fluffy hair," Jett said.

Hermione quickly put a hand on her head and tried to smooth her hair down. "It's the humidity," she said, her face flushing, "it always makes my hair frizzy."

"It's not nice to make personal comments, Jett," Alexa admonished her.

"Sorry," Jett muttered. "When will the food appear?"

"Any minute…" Hermione started to say, but just then the tables filled with serving dishes steaming with food and place settings appeared along the edges.

"Yay!" Jett squealed. She reached for the nearest serving dish, which was mounded with sausages, and snatched one with each hand.

Roku groaned. "Use the serving fork, Jett."

"Ok." Jett dropped the two sausages onto the nearest plate, grabbed the fork and speared two more sausages, which she transferred to the same plate, pushing them off the fork with her fingers. She grinned at Roku. Roku rolled his eyes and sat down next to her. Alexa sat on her other side.

"Since you'll be in third year, Roku," Hermione said as they ate, "you'll need to get the third year book list before you go to Diagon Alley tomorrow."

"Professor Dumbledore said Professor McGonagall would have it."

"That makes sense."

"I wonder what kind of wand you'll get," Ron said. "My first one was a hand-me-down, so it worked but it didn't match me. My new one's much better."

While the children chattered at the Gryffindor table, Quatre, seated at the teachers' table, looked around worriedly. "I wonder where Trowa is." Wu-Fei and Hadeya had turned up when lunch started, but Trowa was nowhere in sight.

"Did you notice that Heero and Duo are absent as well?" Treize said with a straight face.

Quatre scowled. "Who cares about them? It's Trowa I'm worried about. He said he was going to observe that Care of Magical Creatures class, but it must be over by now."

"Hagrid is also missing," Treize pointed out innocently.

"What?" Quatre started, apparently having only just noticed the absence of the giant gamekeeper-turned-teacher.

Just then, Heero entered with Filch, trailed by two redheads with suspiciously perky grins on their faces, which they would quickly replace with not-very-convincing mournful looks whenever Filch glared at them over his shoulder. The redheads scurried to the Gryffindor table while Filch and Heero approached the teachers' table.

Filch stopped in front of McGonagall. "Them two earned a double-detention just now," he growled, hooking a finger at the Weasley twins. "They should lose points for sneaking into an off-limits area."

McGonagall's pinched face got a little more pinched. "Very well," she said calmly. "Five points each from Gryffindor."

Filch nodded in satisfaction and he marched over to his customary place by the wall where he could scowl at the students while they ate.

Heero took a seat next to Hadeya. "Where's Duo?"

"Wasn't he with you?" Wu-Fei said.

"Yeah, but he wandered off."

"There he is," said Hadeya.

At that moment, Duo came bouncing into the Great Hall, his long braid swinging. "Hey, guys!" He flopped down next to Heero and immediately started eating.

Heero glared at him suspiciously. "Weren't you just in the kitchen?"

"I haven't been in there this whole time," Duo said.

"Oh?"

Duo kept eating and said nothing.

Heero continued to glare at him.

"What?" Duo said innocently.

"I don't trust you when you're out of my sight."

"Me?" Duo blinked, wide-eyed.

"Now I know you were up to something. Have you been screwing someone?"

"Of course not!"

Heero glared.

"I wasn't!"

"It's so sweet," Quatre said. "Heero's still jealous and Duo hasn't been a woman for months."

"I'm not jealous!"

"Trowa's here," Hadeya interrupted loudly.

Trowa and Hagrid came in together. Hagrid was talking excitedly, his big hands waving through the air like windmills. Quatre scowled.

"Who's jealous now?" Wu-Fei muttered under his breath.

Quatre glared at him and Duo snickered.

"T'was the most amazing thing!" Hagrid exclaimed loudly as they reached the teachers' table. He dropped an enormous hand onto Trowa's shoulder. "He talks to animals! Just like that an' clear as yeh please. I ain't never seen the like."

The teachers all stared at Trowa. Snape's glower was full of open disbelief.

Trowa waved a hand deprecatingly. "It's nothing, really." He quickly took a seat, squeezing in next to Quatre.

Quatre frowned at him. "Have you been with Hagrid this whole time?"

"Yeah, we were out in the Forbidden Forest talking to things."

"I see."

"He's jealous, all right" Wu-Fei stage-whispered to Duo.

"Shut up!" Quatre snapped.

"I'll be going out into the forest again tomorrow," Trowa continued. "There are all kinds of very interesting animals out there."

"I suppose you'll be going with Hagrid," Quatre said stiffly.

"Of course, he knows the way." Trowa began eating, failing to notice the slight frown on Quatre's face. "And anyway, you'll be shopping in London with Roku."

Quatre's frown became a little more pronounced.

Duo snickered again. "Someone's doing without tonight."

"Huh?" said Trowa.

"Never mind."

"You should talk!" Heero growled at Duo. "I should cut you off for whatever it was you were doing just now."

"I wasn't doing anything!" Duo protested.

"He's not going to let up until you tell him, Duo," Wu-Fei advised.

"Oh, fine!" Duo exclaimed. "I was shooting craps with the house elves! Satisfied?"

"What could you have possibly been cheating the house elves out of?" Wu-Fei wondered aloud.

"I was not cheating!"

Wu-Fei lifted an eyebrow.

"It couldn't be big," Hadeya speculated. "He hasn't given anything to Roku yet."

"I am so abused!" Duo whined.

"Whatever it is," Heero glowered, "you better let them win it back."

Duo pouted. "You're no fun."

"You wanna get laid later?"

"Oh, all right!"


	5. Diagon Alley

Chapter 5: **Diagon Alley**

Hermione stood next to the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room clutching the jar of Floo Powder.

"Now," Professor McGonagall said briskly as she looked at Quatre, Duo and Roku, who stood in a line in front of her, "this is really quite simple. You grasp a pinch of Floo Powder from the jar, step into the fireplace, state clearly the name of the place you wish to go and then fling the powder at your feet. You'll be whisked directly to your destination, which in this case will be the grate in the Leaky Cauldron, which is the entrance to Diagon Alley. Please watch carefully."

McGonagall grasped a pinch of powder from the jar, stepped into the fireplace (which contained only a few glowing coals at the moment), and said "Diagon Alley!" in a clear, loud voice. She flung the powder down and disappeared in a flash of green fire and sooty smoke.

Quatre waved a hand in front of his face, coughing hoarsely. "What a mess! We should have just used my spell book."

"Just get in there," Duo said, shoving Quatre forward.

Frowning unhappily, Quatre grabbed a bit of Floo Powder and stepped into the fireplace. "Diagon Alley!" He disappeared just as McGonagall had.

"You next, Roku," Duo instructed.

Roku grinned at Hermione as he grasped some powder. "Diagon Alley!" In a puff and a flash, he was gone.

Duo nodded with pursed lips. "Very interesting." He got his pinch of powder and stepped in. "See you later," he said to Hermione and then said, "Diagon Alley!"

Hermione put the lid back on the jar as he disappeared and headed for the portrait hole.

"Hey!" Fred exclaimed. "Where are you going with that?"

"I'm taking it back to Professor McGonagall's office," Hermione said stiffly, "as I was instructed."

"Let us have a handful," George wheedled.

"Yeah, just one!" Fred cajoled.

Hermione scowled at them. "You have double-detention," she reminded them primly. "You're not allowed off the premises."

"Hermione!" the twins exclaimed.

"Hmph!" Hermione turned her back on them and stalked off.

"She's hopeless!" George complained.

"Utterly hopeless!" Fred agreed.

In the Leaky Cauldron, Duo popped out of the grate to find the others waiting for him, dusting themselves free of soot. He sneezed. "Wu-Fei could never do this."

"But at least he'd be in a fireplace when he sneezed," Roku pointed out.

"True," Duo agreed.

"Shall we shop?" Quatre interrupted loudly.

"I thought we needed to go to the bank first," Duo said. "We don't have any of the local currency."

"Oh, right."

"Follow me, please," said McGonagall. She led the way from the Leaky Cauldron's common room, where a handful of mostly unsurprised patrons watched them curiously, and out the back to a tiny brick courtyard. She pulled out her wand. "You must tap the correct brick with your wand to open the entrance to Diagon Alley," she informed them, tapping on an indistinguishable brick as she spoke. Without fanfare, the bricks folded back on themselves and created an open doorway leading into a busy street filled with people. "This way," the prim professor said. She led them through the entrance and down the street to Gringotts Bank. "Gringotts can exchange any form of currency into wizarding money," she said briskly. "It might be best if you opened an account so that you have cash to draw on whenever you need it."

"That's a good idea," Quatre said.

"Gringotts is the securest bank in the world," McGonagall said with a trace of pride in her voice. "There has only been one break-in in its entire history."

"Really?" Duo perked up. "It must be chock-full of money, then."

"Other people's money," Quatre said pointedly.

They arrived at the bank, where they were immediately approached by a pointy-eared goblin. "May I help you?"

"We'd like to open an account," Quatre said. "We have money to exchange."

"What currency?" the goblin asked as he led them to a tall desk. He climbed onto a stool behind the desk and opened an enormous ledger.

Roku produced a fat pouch of gold coins. "We have gold coins. These ones are mostly from Nottingham."

The goblin opened the pouch and spilled out a few of the coins. His eyes widened. He picked up a coin and examined it closely. "The striking on this coin is quite old, but the coin itself looks fairly new. Where did you say you obtained it?"

"Nottingham."

The goblin hefted the coin. "It's solid gold. Is it a souvenir coin?" He poured more of the coins from the bag.

"No," Quatre said quickly before Roku could say any more. "But they are collector's coins. I assume they're exchangeable."

"Oh, yes!" the goblin said. He bobbed his head excitedly. "Quite exchangeable! Do you have any others?"

Roku produced several more bags of coins. "Here are some more from Nottingham, a few from Camelot and some from Asgard."

"Asgard?!" The goblin's head snapped up.

"It's a town in Norway!" Quatre said hastily. He shook his head slightly at Roku.

Clucking and muttering to himself, the goblin carefully counted out and weighed the coins, making notes in his ledger. Finally, he sat back with a smile. "Well, this is quite a small fortune you have here. The exchange rate is well in your favor. I'll order a vault for you immediately and have it filled with the equivalent value in Galleons, Sickles and Knuts." He rang a little bell on his desk and another goblin hurried over. He leaned over and whispered into the goblin's ear and the second goblin hurried off. "I've sent the clerk to fetch an advance, as it will take a little time to prepare your vault. I hope the amount is acceptable." The second goblin returned quickly carrying a heavy pouch.

"I'll take that," Quatre said before Duo could snag it.

"Dang!" Duo muttered.

The goblin turned his ledger toward Quatre. "If you'll just sign here and list the names of anyone else who is to have access to the account, we'll be all finished."

Quatre signed the ledger and then wrote the names of everyone else in their party, including the children. He glowered at Duo. "Just because I put your name down doesn't mean you get to withdraw any money."

"You're no fun!" Duo pouted.

The goblin closed his ledger. "Thank you for doing business with Gringotts Bank. If there is any other way we can be of service to you, please don't hesitate to ask."

Once they were back out in the street, McGonagall rubbed her hands together briskly. "Very well, now we can get down to business. I think first we should stop by Madame Milkin's and get robes. All students must wear robes during school hours. After that, there's Olivander's to get a wand, the bookstore for textbooks and just down the way, the stationary store to get parchment, quills and ink. And let's see… what else?" McGonagall marched off briskly and the others scurried along in her wake.

At Madame Milkin's, Roku swept dramatically about the dressing area, making his robe flair out. "I like robes! We should get some for Alexa and Jett."

Quatre shrugged. "I suppose. Do you have robes for, um, eight-year-olds and four-year-olds, Madame Milkin?"

"Of course!" Madame Milkin said with a cheerful smile. "We cater to all ages here." She brought out two more sets of robes in smaller sizes. "Now, if these don't fit well, just bring them back and exchange them."

"I will. Thank you."

Once the robes were paid for, they headed down the street to Olivander's wand shop. This shop was small, dusty and stuffed to the rafters with long, narrow boxes.

Olivander peered at them over his narrow counter. "Good day, Professor McGonagall," he said in a soft voice.

"Good day. I have a mid-term student in need of a wand."

"Indeed?" Olivander peered at Roku. "Hmm… Let me think… Let me think…" He turned to the stacks of boxes behind him and examined them thoughtfully. "Ah!" He took down a box and turned to Roku, lifting off the lid to reveal a slender, light-brown wand. "This wand is made of rowan wood and contains a dragon heartstring. It is a very powerful wand. Not many wizards could use such a wand to its full potential. Give it a try."

Roku took the wand from the box and grinned. "It tingles!" He lifted the wand and a pale orange light swirled up the shaft and glowed brightly at the tip for a moment before dissipating and leaving a faint scent of berries.

Olivander gave Roku a kindly smile. "Ah! I thought so. That's just the wand for you."

Roku grinned happily as Quatre paid for the wand.

Next they went to the bookstore to buy Roku's textbooks. This went fairly smoothly, except for the Care of Magical Creatures textbook. The manager at Flourish and Blotts looked like he wanted to cry when Roku read the name _The Monster Book of Monsters _from his book list.

"I suppose I should say you're in luck," he groaned, "as we still have a few left. We had to put them in separate cages, though. They kept trying to eat each other. It's been just terrible. Worst book we've ever stocked. One of the clerks nearly had his finger bitten clean off. We couldn't get him to come back to work for a week." The manager shook his head and clucked his tongue as he led the way into the back where three bird cages sat on tables several feet apart. Inside each cage lay a savage-looking book. As soon as they neared them, the books flopped up against the sides of their cages and started gnawing on the bars and growling. The manager flinched back. "There you are."

Roku approached the nearest cage and bent over. "Be quiet, silly thing," he said.

The book stopped growling.

Roku opened the cage and took the book out.

The manager stared. "Well, um, what other books did you say you needed?"

In no time at all, they were in possession of a thick stack of textbooks.

"Duo," Quatre said, "would you carry these, please?"

"Me?" Duo complained. "I'm already carrying the robes!"

"Quit complaining." Quatre dumped the pile of books on top of the boxes Duo was already holding. "What next?"

"Stationary store," said McGonagall and down the street they went.

By the time they finished buying things, Duo was staggering under the weight of so many items one could only just see the top of his head over the pile. Roku's cauldron, balanced somewhat precariously on top, kept sliding in front of his face.

"Quatre! I'm going to drop everything!"

"You're such a wuss." Quatre took the cauldron. "There, is that better?"

"Oh, totally!" Duo grumbled sarcastically.

"Well, I think that's everything," McGonagall said, studying their purchases with pursed lips. "Shall we head back?"

"All right."

They returned to the Leaky Cauldron, where a pot of Floo Powder sat on the mantelpiece above the common room fireplace. McGonagall dropped a couple of coins into a little bowl next to the jar and took a pinch of powder. She nodded to the others, stepped over the grate and said "Hogwarts!"

One by one, the others followed and found themselves back in the Gryffindor common room.

"How does it know which fireplace in a place this size?" Roku asked curiously.

Before McGonagall could answer, there was a loud crash as Duo tumbled out of the fireplace, spilling boxes in all directions.

"Some help would have been nice!" Duo exclaimed.

"Wuss!" Quatre muttered under his breath, but he helped Duo pick up the spilled boxes. They sorted out the boxes containing the robes for Alexa and Jett and took everything else up to Roku's room. A big trunk now sat at the foot of his bed and they put his new purchases inside.

"It seems silly to leave all this stuff here when I could just take it with me," Roku remarked.

"Just leave it in the trunk," Quatre said.

Roku put on his robes and tucked his wand into a pocket. "How's that?"

"You look just like a Hogwart's student," Quatre said approvingly.

Roku grinned.

Back downstairs, Quatre and Duo gave Roku hugs and left. Harry, Ron, Hermione and a few other third years crowded around Roku.

"What kind of wand did you get?" Ron asked excitedly.

Roku took his wand out of his pocket. "It's rowan wood with a dragon heartstring," he said proudly. "It's pretty."

"Rowan wood?" Hermione said. "It must be very powerful. Have you tried any spells with it yet?"

"No. What should I try?"

"You should start with something simple," Hermione said authoritatively. Ron rolled his eyes.

Roku studied his wand for a moment and then he reached out and tapped Ron's head. Ron's hair immediately turned bright blue.

"That's brilliant!" Harry exclaimed.

Ron grabbed a handful of his hair and stared at it in horror. "I don't want blue hair!"

"I don't know," Harry said, straight-faced, "it looks good on you."

"It does not!" Ron cried. "You can change it back, right?"

Roku nodded. He tapped Ron's head again and his hair turned deep violet.

"That's a pretty color," Hermione said.

Ron groaned. "This is even worse!"

Roku, Harry and Hermione exchanged grins. The other Gryffindors began to laugh.

Ron clutched at his head. "This isn't funny!"

Roku tapped Ron's head once more and his hair returned to its normal flaming red. "Sorry."

Ron sank into a chair. "My heart can't take this."

"With brothers like his, you would think he could take a little teasing," someone muttered.

Ron just groaned.

After the weekend was over, Roku went to his first classes with his new classmates. His first class was Divination. As they climbed up into the North Tower, several of the girls crowded around Roku excitedly.

"You'll love Professor Trelawney!" they squealed. "She's so mysterious! She can see into the future!"

Roku blinked. "Really?"

"Yes!"

One by one, the students climbed the rope ladder into Professor Trelawney's classroom and took seats. Roku sat at a tiny table with Harry and Ron.

Professor Trelawney appeared from out of a smoky corner, her large glasses reflecting the many candles that were burning and filling the room with a cacophony of scents. "Welcome students," she began and then her gaze fell on Roku. "Who is this?"

"Don't you know?" Hermione muttered sarcastically, and probably louder than she should have. "I thought you would have foreseen a new student being in class today."

Professor Trelawney twitched, but she did not look at Hermione. Instead she floated over to Roku and peered closely into his face. "New student? When did you start?"

"Today, Professor," Roku said. "Can you really see into the future?"

"Ah!" Trelawney exclaimed. "The future is always moving; difficult to grasp. Only a special few can glimpse moments in time."

Roku scratched his head. "That doesn't make sense. If it's moving, how can you see it? And if you see it, what is to prevent you from changing it? And if you change it, how could you have ever seen it? And if you see something and it doesn't happen, does that mean you were wrong or that someone else changed it?"

Trelawney's mouth hung open in stunned silence. "Uh… Let's begin, class!" she said abruptly in an absurdly cheerful voice. "Today we will resume our lesson on reading tea leaves."

Harry leaned over and whispered to Roku. "I think you've made a friend there." He nodded at Hermione, who was beaming at Roku. "She doesn't think much of Professor Trelawney."

"Well, I don't mean to be disrespectful," said Roku, "but my brother Hadeya said that only the gods can predict the future, but they usually don't bother because if you wait it will come to you."

Harry laughed. "That's a very practical way of looking at it. Is your brother a priest or something?"

"No, but his mother is a goddess."

Harry stared. "Excuse me?"

Roku flushed. "Oh, I probably shouldn't have said that."

"But you did!" Harry whispered eagerly. "Please tell me what you meant!"

"Well," Roku looked around and lowered his voice. "When we were living in Asgard, Papa Heero made a baby with Lady Freya, who is a goddess."

"You lived in Asgard?!" Ron squeaked. "But that's a legend! How can you live in a legend?"

Roku blinked and decided not to mention the part about being in a book. "Asgard is a real place, but it's out of phase with the Earth now so it's not easy to go there anymore."

"Then how did you get there?" Harry asked curiously.

"Oh, um…"

Professor Trelawney suddenly appeared beside their table. "Students should not be talking so much during class," she said in her wispy voice. She poured tea into their cups. "Drink your tea and see what you make of the dregs in each other's cups." She blinked owlishly at Harry. "I expect yours will again show that you are going to die." And she drifted to the next table to pour more tea.

Harry groaned. "I hate this class."

By the end of the first day, Roku was bouncing with excitement. "That was fun! I like school!"

"It's great, isn't it?" Hermione agreed with excitement. "There are so many exciting topics to study."

Ron put his head in his hand. "He's encouraging her," he groaned. "She doesn't need encouragement."

As they entered the Great Hall, Draco Malfoy let out a dramatic cry and collapsed to the ground. "Oh my god!" he cried. "A dementor! Help me!" His ever-present crowd of Slytherin sycophants laughed hysterically.

Harry scowled.

"Stupid git!" Ron muttered.

"Why is he doing that?" Roku asked.

"Oh," Harry frowned. "The first time I met a dementor, it made me pass out. Now he thinks it's the funniest joke in the world."

"That doesn't sound very funny," Roku said. "Is he flirting with you?"

Ron made a strangling sound.

Harry's mouth fell open. "What…" he stammered, "makes you think that?"

"Well," Roku said seriously, "sometimes when a boy wants to get someone's attention, he acts very stupid so he'll be noticed." Roku peered at Draco. "Maybe he likes you."

"That…" Harry fumbled for words, "is probably the farthest thing from the truth."

"I don't know," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Remember, when we first arrived as first years, he tried to make friends with you."

"But that was just because Harry's famous!" Ron exclaimed.

"If you say so," Roku said, "but he smells interested to me."

"Smells interested?!" Harry stared. "What do you mean?"

Roku shrugged. "Sometimes I can tell when people like each other from the way they smell. I can always tell when people are sleeping together because they smell like each other."

"You can smell that?"

"Yeah."

Hermione's cheeks colored slightly. "Your sense of smell must be very sensitive."

"It is." Roku looked back at Draco. "But that's why I think he's flirting. He smells interested."

"What's that?" George said, suddenly appearing beside them. "Who's flirting?"

"Malfoy," Roku said.

"Who's he flirting with?" Fred said. "Not some frumpy Slytherin girl?"

"With Harry," said Roku, failing to notice the frantic shushing motions being made by both Harry and Ron.

Fred and George grinned at Harry and then turned to grin at Draco. "Is he really? We'll have to do something about that." The twins scurried off, chuckling evilly.

Harry put a hand over his face. "Oh, no! I don't even want to think about what they might do! And he's not interested in me!"

"Maybe we should sit down," Hermione advised. They moved to the Gryffindor table and settled onto a bench.

Just then, Alexa and Jett dashed over to them, their black Hogwarts robes fluttering around their legs.

"Can we eat with you, Roku?"

"Of course." Roku made room for the girls and shortly after, the food appeared. Everyone tucked into the yummy meal, emptying platter after platter.

Hermione watched Alexa and Jett eat while her eyes got rounder and rounder. Finally, she could not stand it anymore. "How do you stay so slim eating that much?" she burst out.

Alexa stopped in mid-bite. "Mommy says I have a high metabolism and I'm still growing. Jett is, too."

"I… see…" Hermione said doubtfully.

Jett downed another cup of pumpkin juice and held out the empty cup. "More juice?"

"Uh, sure." Hermione refilled it. Jett gave her a big smile and Hermione smiled back. "She is awfully cute. You're not eating, Harry."

"How am I supposed to eat?" Harry moaned. He looked down the table at the twins, who were whispering excitedly and throwing occasional glances toward the Slytherin table. "I just know whatever they're planning is going to get me in trouble."

"Ask Uncle Duo," Alexa said.

"Ask him what?"

"Ask him what they're planning. He can find out."

"I'm not sure I want to know."

"I don't know," Hermione said. "It might not be so bad if they make Malfoy look like a fool."

"It will still get me in trouble."

"They can't do anything with the Quidditch match coming up," Ron said. "They won't risk getting a detention before the game and not being able to play."

"That's true." Harry perked up a little bit.

"Anyway, the first match is against Slytherin," Ron continued, "so you can knock Malfoy of his broom and maybe dash his brains out."

"There's a pleasant thought!" Harry managed a smile.

"Do people really get killed during Quidditch matches?" Roku asked.

"It's not common, but it has happened," Ron said. "Let me tell you about this one match…" and he proceeded to describe, in detail, a particular Quidditch match in which not one but two players were killed over the course of the game.

"It sounds dangerous," Alexa said, her eyes round.

"It is," Ron agreed, "but that's what makes Quidditch the greatest game in the world. It's really exciting."

When dinner was over, the students returned to their dormitories, but Roku went back to the Gundam pilots' common room so he could have a little tiger time.

"My friend Hermione said she was going to take your class, Mama," Roku said. "She doesn't think wandless magic can be as powerful as magic done with a wand. She also plans to take Papa Wu-Fei's class. She really seems to like studying."

"She sounds like an intelligent girl," Wu-Fei said approvingly.

"She doesn't want to take fencing?" Treize chuckled.

"I don't think she has time, although she seems to be taking an awful lot of classes."

"How did you like your first day of school?" asked Quatre.

"It was fun. I'm glad we came."

"Good."

"By the way," said Roku, "do you suppose anyone knows that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin, is a werewolf?"

Everyone stared.

"Are you sure?" Heero asked with sudden interest. Up until now, he had looked rather bored.

"Uh huh."

"That seems kind of appropriate," Duo chuckled.

"It hardly seems safe to have a werewolf instructing children," Wu-Fei said.

"But he would not be a wolf very often," Treize pointed out reasonably. "Although it might be a conflict of interest for him to teach the students how to defend themselves against werewolves."

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore has a perfectly good reason for hiring a werewolf as an instructor," Zechs said. "He seems to have the place under control."

"I agree," said Trowa. "At any rate, if it's not common knowledge, it would not be kind for us to expose him, so I think we should keep it to ourselves."

"I agree," said Quatre.

"Ok," said Roku. "I'd better get back to my dorm." He shifted back into human form, kissed everyone goodnight and hurried out.

"I think we should all get to bed as well," Quatre announced. "With some of us teaching classes tomorrow, it's going to be a busy day. Duo, you're babysitting."

"Me?!"

"And no teaching the girls to shoot craps. Goodnight, everyone."

"Goodnight, Quatre."

"What kind of a mother does he think I am?" Duo grumbled as he escorted the girls to bed. "And anyway, they already know how to shoot craps."


	6. New Classes and New Friends

Chapter 6: **New Classes and New Friends**

Quatre watched the students filing into his classroom. Since his class was an elective, the majority of his students were sixth and seventh years, who had more room for an extra elective in their schedules, but there were a few from the lower grades. Hermione Granger was the only third year, however.

"He seems awfully young to be an instructor," Percy Weasley murmured to the young woman at his side.

"I think he's cute!" the young woman, a seventh year Ravenclaw named Penny whispered back. Percy looked stricken.

"Take your seats please," Quatre said briskly. "First of all, this is a wandless magic class, so please put them away if you have them out."

Hermione immediately raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Professor Winner, how can wandless magic be more powerful than wanded magic?"

"I didn't say that it was, Miss Granger. However, if you rely too heavily on your wand for everyday magic, it can become a crutch. I think it's important for young magicians to be prepared to rely on themselves. Ultimately, the best magic is the magic that gets the job done with the least amount of effort, wouldn't you agree?"

Hermione blinked uncertainly. "I guess so."

"All right, let's begin. Who here knows how to make light?"

"We all do, Professor," Percy said stiffly. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and started to raise it.

Quatre held up a hand. "Hang on. What's that in your hand?"

Percy blinked in confusion. "It's my wand."

"Didn't I just say not to use them?"

"But Professor Winner!" Percy protested. "Making light is completely natural with a wand!" As he spoke, bright yellow light flared from the tip of his wand.

"Is it?" Quatre said. He held up his right hand and a ball of yellow light, the same color as Percy's appeared above his palm. "So can you just leave your light anywhere?" Quatre dropped his hand back to his side and the ball off light stayed where it was.

Percy stared. Then he muttered furiously under his breath and moved his wand slowly to the left. The light stayed glued to the tip of his wand. His brow wrinkled and he muttered even more furiously as he moved his wand to the right. The light moved back to the right, still clinging to the tip. Quatre made another ball of light, this one bright pink, and tossed it at Percy. Percy ducked with a yelp. The students tittered.

Hermione, sitting two rows back from Percy, reached out instinctively and caught the ball of pink light. "It's cool!"

"Of course it's cool," Quatre said calmly. "I would hardly throw a ball of hot light at a student."

Hermione studied the light intently, poking it with a fingertip. "Light needs a source, doesn't it, Professor Winner?"

"Of course. What do you think is the source for that light?"

"I have no idea." Hermione scowled as she said this. She hated not understanding something.

Quatre smiled. "That's a good answer, but I'll answer you with another question. What separates wizards and witches from Muggles?"

"That's easy," someone spoke up. "Magic."

"Precisely. And where does the magic come from?"

"From inside us," a haughty Slytherin girl said importantly.

"Correct. So what purpose does the wand serve?"

"It focuses and enhances the magic," Percy answered quickly, anxious to re-assert himself as a classroom leader.

"Also correct," Quatre agreed. "But you should be able to focus your magic without the wand and that is what we will be learning in this class. So, put your wand away Percy and let's get started. How many of you speak Latin?"

All around the room, jaws dropped.

"Latin is a dead language," Percy said bluntly.

"But it's a good language for focusing magic," Quatre replied. "For example," he pointed at an empty chair and murmured, "_Demutare riscus._" The chair turned into a trunk.

There was an explosion of cries.

"No way!" someone exclaimed.

"So who wants to try turning the chair back?"

Hands shot into the air.

Over lunch that afternoon, Hermione described the wandless magic class to her friends with great excitement, except Ron kept scowling at her and muttering under his breath about his rat.

After listening to Hermione, Harry scratched his head. "Don't you have Arithmancy in the morning, Hermione?"

Hermione waved that away. "Aren't you listening?" she exclaimed. "He turned a chair into a trunk just by pointing at it. No wand! No nothing! Just his finger! Can you believe it?"

"He does stuff like that all the time," Roku said casually, "especially when he's irritated. That's how Papa Duo ended up as a woman. He pissed Mama off."

Harry and Hermione stared at him.

"Professor Quatre turned Mr. Maxwell into a woman?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah, he does that when he's mad." Roku chuckled. "At least he stuck to a human form. When he's really mad, people usually end up as chickens."

"Chickens?!" Harry and Hermione exclaimed.

"What about nice, big, cat-eating dogs?" Ron spoke up suddenly. "Can he do those?"

"Sure, but why would you want him to do that?"

Hermione flinched. "Crookshanks is just acting like a normal cat when he chases Scabbers," she said defensively.

"Hah!" Ron exclaimed.

"Who's Scabbers?" Roku asked.

"My rat!" Ron snapped. "And her stupid cat keeps trying to eat him!"

Roku blinked. "Isn't that normal?"

"Sure!" Ron shouted. "Take her side!" He jumped to his feet and stormed off.

Harry shook his head. "Ron's a little sensitive right now. I think his rat's dying. It looks terrible."

"Oh."

"And it is normal!" Hermione said, her voice wavering.

"Um," said Harry, trying to change the subject, "are you going to the fencing club this afternoon, Hermione?"

"No." Hermione pulled one of her textbooks closer. "Why would I do that? It would just take time away from studying."

"But it sounds like fun."

"I'm sure it will be. Don't poke your eye out."

"What?!"

But Hermione already had her nose buried in her book.

Neville Longbottom, sitting across the table next to Hermione, blinked nervously at Harry. "Are you sure you want to join the fencing club? I heard a lot of Slytherins were planning to join. I'm pretty sure I heard Malfoy say he'd be there."

Harry scowled. "I don't care! I think it would be fun to learn to fence. I'm still going. You should come, too."

Neville shook his head quickly. "No thanks! I don't need to give any Slytherins more chances to beat me up!"

Harry shook his head. "Are you coming, Roku?"

"Yeah. Uncle Treize said I can help during sparring practice."

"You know how to fence?"

"Sure. Uncle Treize taught me."

Harry sighed. "It must be nice having relatives who like you and want to teach you things."

Just down the table, a handful of Gryffindor seventh-year girls were giggling excitedly among themselves.

"You have to take the class, Janice!" one girl was saying. "I heard that that cute guy that sits with the new professors is going to be the assistant."

"He's so good-looking!" another girl squealed. "Do you know his name?"

"They call him Hadeya. He's like a Greek god! He's so beautiful!"

"They're all beautiful," Janice said.

"But he's super-beautiful!"

"He's a Norse god," Roku said. "Well, a demi-god, anyway."

"Hush!" Harry shushed him.

"Why?"

"I don't think they need to know that. It will just make them worse."

"Well," Janice said, "I don't have time to fit another class in my schedule, especially an elective that's not even about magic."

"Well, I asked my parents about it," one girl said, "and they said they think it's a good idea."

"Of course they would, Susie! Your parents are Muggles! All the Muggle parents think their kids need to learn non-magic stuff, too."

"I know," said a girl named Evie. "I signed up because my parents said I wouldn't have to take summer school if I did. What's one more elective if it means I can finally take the summer off? You kids from wizarding families are lucky."

"No kidding!" Susie agreed.

Janice looked down the table at Roku. "Are you going to take Professor Chang's class, Roku?"

"No. Papa Wu-Fei said he wasn't going to cover any college level subjects."

Evie's eyebrows shot up. "College level?! Are you saying you're already in college?"

"Yeah, I started last year."

"But… but… You're twelve!"

"More or less."

"So how can you be in college already?! I haven't even finished high school yet!"

"I was home-schooled."

"That's… that's…" Evie stammered without finding anything to finish her sentence.

"Papa Wu-Fei had a lot of time to teach me," Roku assured her.

"Roku, guess what!" Alexa sprinted up to him with Jett on her heels. "They have baths here! Big ones!"

Roku's eyes gleamed. "Really?"

"Yeah! Mommy and Daddy said they'd give us baths tonight!"

"Uncle Treize never bathes us!"

"Not if he can avoid it, but Mommy says he has to this time."

Roku clapped his hands gleefully.

"You guys like bathing?" Harry said.

"It's fun!" Roku nodded. "Do you want to take a bath with us?"

"What, all of you together?" Harry looked faintly scandalized.

"Sure! We'll teach you to play our favorite bath game."

"What's that?"

"It's kind of hard to describe. We'll just show you. We'll do it after dinner tonight, ok?"

"Um, ok."

"Yay!" Alexa shouted. "Harry's gonna bathe with us! I get him on my team!" She and Jett raced back to the teacher's table to give Treize and Zechs the news. Treize looked monumentally unhappy.

"You're going to take a bath with girls?" Neville exclaimed in a hoarse whisper. "Isn't that rather … naughty?"

"They're little girls," Harry said quickly, but his cheeks reddened.

"Don't worry," Roku said. "Bathing is serious business. There won't be time for anything naughty."

Harry blinked, clearly wondering what he had gotten himself into.

When Harry and Roku walked down to fencing club later, with a reluctant Ron in tow, Harry tried to get more information.

"So, about this bath…"

"It'll be great!" Roku said enthusiastically. "You can swim, right?"

Harry's eyes widened. "Yes, sort of."

"You have nothing to worry about, then." Roku thumped him on the back. "And anyway, no one's drowned yet. Here's the club room." Roku stepped through the door into the newly designated fencing club room.

Treize and Zechs had acquired a rack from somewhere and it now held a dozen wooden practice swords in various shapes and lengths. Both men were wearing long, slender straight swords.

"Welcome everyone!" Treize said. He gave them a winning smile. "I'm glad to see you here. Fencing is as much an art form as fighting method. When done correctly, it is as beautiful as a dance. First off, I would like everyone to sit on the benches." He gestured to the benches against the walls on either side of the room. "My assistant Count Merquise and I will give a demonstration first and then we will divide you into groups to begin instruction. All right?" He shooed them toward the walls and stepped into the middle of the room.

As Zechs stepped out to face him, Draco leaned toward Crabbe and Goyle. "I bet he's not a real Count."

"No talking, please," Treize said airily, "especially if you're going to make idiotic statements."

Draco turned red and several students snickered.

Treize and Zechs faced each other and bowed without losing eye contact.

"Note that we never talk our eyes off our opponent," Treize said. "To do so is to invite a length of steel into your midsection."

"Aren't you supposed to draw your swords or something?" Draco interrupted. "I've always seen fencers present their swords to each other."

"If you want to present your sword to someone, do it in private," Zechs remarked.

Draco's mouth fell open and his blush stained the roots of his pale hair pink.

Treize shook his head at Zechs. "A true fighter does not draw his sword until he needs to use it, Mr. Malfoy. All that swishing about of unsheathed swords is for amateurs. Now please pay attention."

After standing completely still for the space of five heartbeats, Treize and Zechs suddenly leaped into motion. It was impossible to tell which one actually moved first. There was a clang of steel and just like that, they were standing about three meters apart with their backs to each other.

"All right," Treize said as he sheathed his sword, "who struck first and who defended?"

Complete and utter silence followed his question.

Treize looked around the room. "Come now, anyone?"

The students exchanged stunned looks but no one spoke.

Roku finally popped to his feet. "Uncle Zechs struck first and you defended Uncle Treize."

"Very good, Roku. That is correct."

"How could you tell?" Harry whispered as Roku sat back down. "They moved at the exact same time and I didn't even see them draw their swords!"

"I'm used to watching them spar," Roku confided. "Anyway, you can tell Uncle Zechs attacked because he covered more ground than Uncle Treize."

"We're going to do the same thing again," Treize said, "only slower this time. Watch closely."

He turned to face Zechs and bowed again. They repeated the clash at about half-speed, and now it could be seen that Zechs actually did move first. He drew his sword as he stepped, slashing up toward Treize's face as it cleared the sheath. Treize stepped forward moments after Zechs began to move, drawing his sword at the same time. He struck Zechs' sword before Zechs could complete his upswing and their blades skittered along each other as they passed.

"Holy cow!" Ron exclaimed. "That was amazing!"

"Attack and defense," Treize said. "These are the two sides of a sword fight and you must learn both if you want to become an exceptional swordsman. Everyone get a wooden sword from the rack and form pairs. We'll start with some simple thrusts and parries."

It did not look like there were enough wooden swords to go around, except that Roku stood by the rack and kept handing them out until everyone had one.

Harry stared at him suspiciously. "Did you just pull a sword out from under your arm?"

Roku blinked at him. "I was just holding it there," he said innocently. "Why don't you and Ron pair up? I'll watch."

The students had just started making clumsy passes at each other when Alexa and Jett came in with Duo.

"Hey, Treize, do you mind if the girls stay here for a minute? I've gotta go do some errands for Mr. Filch."

"Of course." Treize smiled affectionately at the girls. "They're part of the fencing club, too. Roku, are there more practice swords?"

"Sure." Roku said. He handed the girls practice swords.

Alexa pointed her sword at Draco. "He doesn't have a partner," she announced. "I'll fight him."

"Don't hurt him," Zechs murmured.

Draco drew himself up. "My arm is injured. I'm just observing today."

"Scared of a little girl, Malfoy?" Ron sneered.

Enraged, Malfoy snatched a sword from Goyle and approached Alexa. "I should tell you that I've had some training from my father."

"Really?" Alexa stared at him critically. "Then why are you holding the sword wrong?"

The class snickered. Draco looked around, his scowl not quite covering the cornered look in his eyes.

Alexa faced him and bowed. "_En guard_." Draco barely got his sword up in time. Alexa swooped in on him, feinted high and came in low, landing a solid blow to Draco's midsection. He doubled over with a grunt.

"Touché!" Alexa cried. "Again?"

With his left hand clutching his bruised side, Draco straightened up and lunged forward. Alexa executed a neat disarm and sent Draco's sword spinning across the floor. She finished with a straight lunge and jabbed him in the chest, knocking him onto his butt.

The students burst into applause and laughter as Crabbe and Goyle scrambled forward to pull Draco to his feet. Alexa grinned.

"All right, all right, let's get back to work," Treize said, clapping his hands. The students settled down and resumed sparring practice as Zechs went to check on Draco.

"Not too bruised, I hope," Zechs said, but he did not sound particularly sympathetic.

"I'm fine!" Draco snapped, but his voice squeaked a little.

"Why don't you take him to the nurse?" Zechs suggested. "Alexa can go a little overboard."

"I'm all right!" Draco repeated loudly, but he let Crabbe and Goyle talk him into going to the nurse anyway.

After he was gone, Harry and Ron began laughing so hard they could barely see to swing their practice swords at each other.

"We have to make sure everyone knows about this!" Ron howled. "Malfoy got beat up by a little girl!"

Draco was not present at dinner that evening, leading to the obvious and hysterical conclusion, repeated frequently and loudly by the Weasley twins, that Draco was hospitalized by a little girl and his absence made it impossible for the glowering Slytherins to deny the rumor successfully. The incident put Ron in such a good mood that he did not make any snide remarks to Hermione about her cat, for which she appeared to be quite grateful.

"Now I'm sorry I didn't join the fencing club," Neville said gloomily. "It would have been worth getting trounced by Slytherins to see Draco knocked on his behind by a pretty little girl."

"Yeah," Hermione agreed with a nod. "I wish I'd seen that."

"Maybe she'll do it again," Ron snickered.

"Unless Malfoy's too cowardly to show up for another class," Harry chortled.

"He'll have to show up," Hermione exclaimed. "His stupid Malfoy honor can't let it rest like this."

"But what can he do?" Ron said, still laughing. "He can hardly turn around and beat her up. How would that look?"

"I'm not sure he could, anyway," Harry laughed.

"You don't suppose he'd try to put a spell on her?" Hermione asked a little worriedly. "That is the cowardly sort of thing he might do."

"He better not," Roku said. "I'll stuff him in my storage space."

"Do people fit in there?" Ron asked in surprise.

"Sure. I got lots bigger things in there than that. Anyway, I'll know if he tries something."

After dinner, Harry excused himself from Ron and Hermione with some misgivings and accompanied Roku up to the bathing chamber that was closest to the Gundam pilots' suite.

"I've never been in this bathroom," Harry said, "but I suppose it's like all the others." As they entered the room, they were greeted by a cloud of steam and giggling.

"Yay! They're here!" Alexa squealed. She swam to the edge of the massive tub and leaned on the edge on her arms. "Hurry up and get in! Guess what, Roku? A bunch of the faucets spray out stuff other than water. It's cool!" She flopped back into the water and swam swiftly across the giant tub. "This one has oil and it smells really good!"

Next to another spigot, Jett was very deliberately turning it off and on, releasing various-sized bubbles of soap onto the surface of the water.

Zechs was seated with his arms crossed on a bench underneath a rack where a row of thick towels hung. His feet were bare and his pant legs were rolled up to just below his knees. Inside the tub, Treize, apparently naked, leaned back on the edge, resting on his elbows. He glanced at the new arrivals.

"We've been waiting for you," Treize said. "Better get undressed."

Harry gulped. "In front of everyone?"

But Roku was already shedding his clothes and in a scant second, he leaped into the bath naked. "Come on, Harry! Hurry up!"

Zechs held out a hand. "I'll hold your glasses."

Harry handed Zechs his glasses and quickly undressed with his back to the tub. Then he turned around and dashed for the water, leaping in quickly. He had barely hit the water when someone grabbed his feet and yanked him under.

"Ah!" Harry yelped. He floundered to the surface, coughing up water.

"I thought he was on your team, Alexa!" Roku shouted.

"Right!" Alexa said. She grabbed Harry's arm. "How good do you swim?"

"Uh… um…"

Alexa dragged him across the tub. Roku and Jett faced them from the other side. She pointed across the water. "We gotta get to the other side and stop them from getting to our side. You're the referee, Daddy! Get ready! Go!" She dove into the water.

Caught off-guard, Harry dove in after her. Suddenly, a pair of little hands had him around the waist and he was pulled to a stop. He scrambled to free himself, rolling over to break the grip of those small hands. A second later, more hands grabbed him and dragged him to the bottom. His lungs burning for air, Harry struggled to reach the surface and he finally exploded out of the water, sputtering. Suddenly, Jett latched onto his shoulders and pulled him over backward. Roku grabbed his wrist and the pair of them started dragging him back toward where he had started.

"No!" Alexa shrieked. She plunged over, grabbed his ankles and started hauling the other way. "Help me, Harry!"

Unsure what she meant by help and more concerned about getting drowned, Harry struggled to break out of Roku's grip. Fortunately, all the oil and soap the girls had let into the tub made his skin slick and he broke free. Desperately, he kicked for the other side with Jett still clinging to his shoulder. Abruptly, she let go and slipped off.

"Don't let her get away!" Alexa shouted.

Startled, Harry reached for the little girl and grabbed her around the waist. Jett squealed and kicked and it was like trying to hold onto a forty-pound salmon. She squirted out of his grip with a shriek that made Harry wince. Alexa shot past him and grabbed Jett's ankle. Then Roku appeared from under the water like a shark and grabbed Alexa around the middle.

"Got you!" he crowed. He started dragging her toward the side.

"Help!" Alexa shrieked. "Harry!"

Harry grabbed her hands and pulled. Jett stuck her little hands under his arms and tickled. Harry began to laugh helplessly while struggling to hold onto Alexa's hands. It was a losing battle. He let go, doubled over and went under. Jett grabbed his arm and started pulling and a second later Roku got him by an ankle. Harry kicked but only got a mouthful of soapy water for his trouble. Gagging, he could not escape as he was towed to the side of the tub. Suddenly, a firm grip caught him by the back of the neck and pulled him to the surface.

"Round One: Roku and Jett," Treize said. He wiped off Harry's face. "Not drowned?"

Harry coughed. "No."

"Good." Treize made his way back across the tub. "Get ready for Round Two."

"WHAT?!"


	7. Halloween

Chapter 7: **Halloween**

"Welcome to Non-Magic Studies," Wu-Fei said. "You may call me Professor Chang." He surveyed his students critically. Most of them were girls. Like Quatre's class, there were more upperclassmen taking the course since they had more schedule space for electives. Percy sat near the back of the classroom staring gloomily at Penny, whose eyes were glued, like the eyes of every other girl in the room, on Hadeya, who was standing beside Wu-Fei. "The purpose of this course is to provide you with a well-rounded general education. While magic is certainly a valid subject area for witches and wizards, you are still human beings and therefore should have some understanding of the world in which you live. So, to start things off, let's have a test."

"What?!" a seventh year Hufflepuff girl squealed. "Just like that? A test? But we haven't learned anything yet!"

"I don't know about that," Wu-Fei said. "You have undoubtedly picked up some bits of knowledge here and there over the years. It may have leached into you through videos and newspapers. So I want to find out what you know and the easiest way is to test you. So," he gestured to Hadeya, "my nephew Hadeya here will be handing out the tests. Please answer each question thoroughly and honestly. If you don't know an answer, just move on to the next question. This test will not be graded. It is simply an assessment."

As the tests were handed out, the mutters of concern and confusion turned to outright dismay.

"I don't know _any_ of the answers!" one Ravenclaw girl wailed.

"I don't even understand this question!" another girl, a Gryffindor, moaned.

"Professor Chang," Percy said, holding up a shaking hand, "what language is question seven in?"

"Ah," Wu-Fei said. "Since you students are English, I hoped you might be familiar with some of the earlier forms of your native language. That question is written in Old English. Everyone finished?" Upon receiving miserable nods from everyone, Wu-Fei turned to Hadeya. "Please collect the tests, Hadeya."

Hadeya went around the rooms and collected the tests.

"Professor Chang," Percy spoke up again. "How could you expect anyone to know some of those answers? Those questions were ridiculously obscure."

"Nonsense. My son Roku, who some of you may know is more or less twelve, actually put together this test for me. I told him specifically not to include any questions to which he did not know the answers."

Percy's mouth dropped open.

"Now I admit, Roku is a very bright young man, gifted even, so I would not have expected you to know all the answers," Wu-Fei began glancing through the tests and frowned, "but I would have expected you to do better than this," he concluded. "I can see I really have my work cut out for me." He tossed the tests onto his desk. "Since none of you got the first question, let's start there." He turned to the chalkboard and wrote _Name the nine rings of Hell from Dante's Inferno and describe the punishments inflicted in each_. "This is a basic literary question," he began.

"Professor Chang!" Percy interrupted again.

"What is it, Mr. Weasley?" Wu-Fei sighed.

"Do you intend to cover all the subjects represented by the questions on that test? We can't possibly learn all of that by the end of term!"

"Perhaps not, but I would hope that by then I can at least awaken in you a fundamental desire to learn." Wu-Fei looked around. All the girls were staring at Hadeya again. "Females!" he muttered under his breath. He turned back to the chalkboard. "Now, to continue…"

As the students filed out of the classroom later, Percy was frowning darkly. "I just don't see any value in that class," he complained. "I don't know if I'll bother going again."

"I'm going!" Penny said dreamily. "Hadeya said good day to me as we were leaving! His voice is so dreamy!"

Percy stared at her. "What are you saying, Penny? You would waste your time in that class just to hear some man speak?"

"Not any man!" Penny sighed wistfully. "Just Hadeya. He's so beautiful."

Percy's mouth worked and a look of horrified anguish spread across his face. "Penny! You're talking about another man!"

"What?"

"In front of me!"

Penny stared at him blankly. "What are you carrying on about, Percy? If you keep nattering at me, I'll forget how Hadeya's voice sounded. I'll see you later." She drifted away, chattering with the other girls, leaving a stricken Percy to stare after her helplessly.

As Wu-Fei and Hadeya exited the classroom, they found Heero waiting outside. "Can I borrow Hadeya?" Heero asked. "I need help looking for that wretched Duo."

"Is he missing?"

"More like hiding," Heero grumbled. "He was supposed to help me check the perimeter and make sure the dementors are staying off the grounds, but he started mumbling something about cold thoughts and disappeared on me."

"His ability may make him more susceptible to the power of the dementors," Hadeya said worriedly. "I hear they can attack the mind."

Heero snorted. "Whatever! That doesn't let him out of the chores. Let's go."

Wu-Fei watched father and son walk away, scratching his shoulder absently.

"Aha!" Duo said from behind a nearby statue nestled in an alcove. "You itch!"

"I do not!" Wu-Fei said immediately, but he began scratching harder. "Dammit! Why did you have to say that word?"

"Let's go take a bath. I'll scratch your scales."

Wu-Fei's eyes started to go soft, but then he shook his head. "No! You just want to get me naked so you can do unspeakable things to my backside."

Duo rubbed his hands together. "Maybe. But I bet you wouldn't mind a nice long back-scratch first."

"No, no, no!" Wu-Fei shook his head wildly. "I'm fine! I don't itch!" He began scratching with both hands; one over his shoulder and one under. "And what are you doing here? Heero's looking for you."

"I know. I'm hiding from him." Duo sidled closer. "Let's go bathe. There's a spigot in the tub that let's in lavender-scented oil. It's really smooth and leaves the skin soft as a baby's butt. I can rub it all over your butt."

"Lavender-scented?" Wu-Fei said weakly.

"Yup," Duo nodded.

Wu-Fei closed his eyes with a groan. "I'm worthless!" he said mournfully. "I cannot even say no to lavender-scented oil. What kind of man am I?"

"The kind who likes getting scratched and oiled and thoroughly screwed." Duo grabbed Wu-Fei's hand and led him off, giggling.

Down in the front hall, Heero stood with his hands on his hips, scowling indiscriminately at passing students.

"Maybe we should get Jett," Hadeya suggested. "She can lead us straight to Uncle Duo."

Heero brightened. "Yeah, let's get Jett. She can scream the dementors off the grounds and then take us to Duo."

"Are you sure it's safe to take her near such dangerous creatures?"

"You think there's anything around here more dangerous than Jett?" Heero smirked. "She should be with Treize and Zechs right now. They're supposed to be babysitting."

They went out the front door and found the two men and two little girls having a picnic on the front lawn.

Zechs saluted them with a glass of wine. "Come and join us."

"Not right now," Heero said. "I'm working. Can I borrow Jett?"

"What for?"

"Scare the dementors."

Zechs lifted an eyebrow.

"She gets to shriek," Heero said.

Jett popped to her feet. "Really loud?"

"Well, pretty loud."

Jett clapped her little hands. "Yay! I get to shriek!"

Everyone winced.

"Not yet!" Heero said

"Sorry!"

"Make sure she's facing away from the castle," Zechs advised. "Otherwise, Quatre will have to repair a bunch of windows."

"Right."

"What if she knocks down trees?" Zechs said.

"They'll grow back."

Jett grabbed Heero and Hadeya by the hand. "Let's go!"

"All right!"

The two men let the little girl drag them away. Not too long later, an earsplitting shriek, muffled by distance but still rather painful, echoed back across the lawn.

Treize blinked. "Do you suppose that worked?"

"I don't think dementors can hear," Zechs said, "but the pressure from the sound waves may crush them."

There was a long, slow creaking sound, followed by a loud crash. Several birds flew up into the air, squawking angrily.

"Hmm…" Treize said. "It seems you were right about the trees."

"Well, it only sounded like one. That's not so bad."

There was another cracking sound, followed by a crash and the snapping of tree branches. More offended birds scattered into the air.

"Oh."

Alexa giggled. "Jett blew trees over."

"I think using sound against dementors may be a bad idea," Treize said.

"I'd have to agree with that," said Zechs.

Heero, Hadeya and Jett came back across the lawn.

"We decided not to do it that way," Heero announced. "The dementors do back off, but there's quite a bit of collateral damage."

"So we heard."

Heero winced. "You heard that, huh?"

"Well, trees do make a sound when they fall in the forest," Treize said with a straight face.

"Anyway," Heero said quickly, "I need Jett to take me to Duo, so we'll have her with us for a little while yet, ok?"

"Sure."

The three of them walked off.

Treize stretched out on his back. "It sure is a nice day."

"It sure is," Zechs agreed. He stretched out with his head resting on Treize's tummy.

"Um hmm," Alexa echoed and she lay down with her head pillowed on Zechs' tummy.

"It's kind of nice not having anything to do," Treize said.

"We should be tutoring Alexa," Zechs pointed out, but his eyes were closed.

"We can do that later," Alexa said with a yawn. "I'm too sleepy to learn right now. I need a nap."

"A nap sounds like a good idea," Zechs agreed.

"You two are a bad influence," Treize chuckled. He closed his eyes. "But a quick nap won't hurt."

Later that evening, Zechs examined his sunburned nose in the mirror in their sitting room. "You said a quick nap wouldn't hurt!" he complained.

"I said a quick one," Treize answered, trying not to laugh. "But a three hour beaching in the sun isn't quick."

"It's because you're so fair, Mommy. My nose didn't burn. Neither did Daddy's."

"That's not much comfort," Zechs grumbled, touching his bright pink nose gingerly. "It's going to peel."

"Ask Roku to fix it," Alexa suggested.

"Maybe I will."

"Let's go down to dinner. He should be there by now."

They arrived in the Great Hall to find many of the students already assembled for dinner. The other Gundam pilots were in their usual place at the teacher's table.

"What's the matter with Heero?" Treize inquired of no one in particular. "He looks pissed."

"He's mad at Duo again," Quatre said.

"What for?"

"Momma was being naughty with Papa Wu-Fei in the bathtub!" Jett giggled.

"He was oiling my back!" Wu-Fei said quickly.

"Yeah, with his chest!" Heero snapped.

"I like to give that all-over massage," Duo snickered.

"You were supposed to be helping me!" Heero growled. "Not ramming Wu-Fei with your stupid…"

"Children present!" Quatre interrupted loudly.

Heero subsided, still grumbling.

"There's Roku, Mommy."

"Oh, thanks." Zechs walked over to Roku, sitting at the Gryffindor table with his friends. "Roku, would you mind fixing my sunburn?" He tapped his nose.

Roku blinked. "That's really pink, Uncle Zechs. You must have been in the sun a long time."

"We were napping. Can you fix it?"

"Sure." Roku touched the tip of Zechs' nose. "_Bene nasus._" The redness on Zechs nose disappeared.

"Thanks, Roku. That's much better." Zechs rubbed his nose. "I really didn't want it to peel. It's so unattractive." He returned to the teacher's table.

"You did that without your wand," Hermione said.

"Oh, um, yeah." Roku blinked sheepishly. "I always forget."

"You need to make regular use of your wand, Roku; otherwise you won't pass your finals at the end of term."

"But if I already know how to do something without using a wand, isn't that better?"

Hermione made a stern face. "But many of our classes REQUIRE a wand. You need to learn. Obviously, I'm going to have to take you in hand."

"Um, ok."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Do you think we should warn him?" he whispered to Harry.

"It's better to let him learn on his own. And he does need to learn to use his wand."

From down the table, Percy was glaring at Roku. Suddenly, he pushed to his feet and stalked to where Roku and the others were sitting. "Roku," Percy said in a stern voice with his chin lifted, "is it true that you wrote the test Professor Chang gave us this morning?"

Roku nodded. "I know it was kind of easy, but Papa Wu-Fei said to stick to simpler subjects."

Percy paled. "Easy?" he exclaimed weakly. "Those questions were… were totally obscure!"

"Really?" Roku scratched his head. "I learned most of that stuff back when I was seven or eight. I thought everyone knew the standard atomic weight of plutonium. I was going to ask for the melting point in degrees Celsius, but I thought that might be too obscure for non-chemists."

Percy's mouth worked silently. He stared at Roku for several seconds, then turned and stumbled back to his seat.

Ron began to laugh uproariously. "That was fantastic, Roku! I've never seen Percy rendered speechless before! That was absolutely marvelous!"

"But it really was supposed to be an easy test."

"Priceless!" Ron howled. "This is going to be the best year yet at Hogwarts!"

But Harry did not seem to think so as the end of October approached. He got more and more depressed as Halloween neared, even to the point of only picking at his food at meals. On Halloween morning, he was really down. He slumped on the table with his chin resting on his crossed arms. Everyone else was chattering excitedly around Harry's island of gloominess.

"You seem depressed, Harry," Roku remarked.

"It's nothing," Harry said with a long sigh.

"He's depressed because he can't go to Hogsmeade with us," Hermione confided.

"What's Hogsmeade?"

"It's the wizarding town near here," Ron said, trying not to sound too enthusiastic and failing.

"What will you do there?"

"Oh, not much," Hermione began, but Ron spoke up at the same time.

"Well, we'll probably stop by Honeyduke's sweetshop and Zonko's Joke Shop and the Three Broomsticks and ow!" He glared at Hermione. "What did you stomp on my foot for?" Then he looked at Harry's mournful face. "Oh, sorry."

"Why can't Harry go?" Roku asked innocently.

"Because we had to get a signed permission slip from our parents or guardians and Harry didn't get his signed," Ron admitted. Then he grinned at Roku. "But you could go! Your parents are right here so you could get permission."

"Yeah," Harry said without any enthusiasm, "you should go. You'll have a great time."

"That's all right," Roku said. "I'd rather stay here. I want to go exploring anyway."

"Students aren't supposed to roam about the castle unsupervised," Hermione said. "There are a lot of dangerous places."

"I know!"

After breakfast, the lucky students on the list to go to Hogsmeade lined up in the front hall. Harry bid goodbye to his friends there and slouched off to find something to occupy his time. Roku also said goodbye in the front hall and then galloped off up the stairs.

Harry watched him go with a sigh. "I guess he's going to go visit with his sister and cousin. Too bad he didn't invite me." The day ended up not being a complete waste because he got to spend time with Professor Lupin, but once Lupin sent him on his way, Harry could not think of anything else exciting to do. So he started back for his common room, his hands stuffed in his pockets. But as he walked past the end of one particularly gloomy corridor, he heard something down at the far end and stopped.

"It's nothing," he told himself. "There wouldn't be anything dangerous inside the castle." He tried hard not to remember that whole incident with the troll. He peered down the hall, trying to make out if there was anything in the shadows at the other end. Suddenly, he froze. "It's my imagination," he whispered. But then the shadows shifted again and something large appeared to take a step toward him. "Oh no! The grim!" Without thinking, Harry turned and ran. The sound of paws pounding down the hall behind him made him run even faster, but the paws were catching up with him. Then he shrieked in terror as something suddenly pounced on his back, knocking him to the ground.

"No!" Harry cried. "Don't kill me!" He tried to scramble away, fishing desperately for his wand, but only succeeded in rolling over. Then he stopped and stared up in complete astonishment. He blinked several times, thinking he must already be dead and imagining things. A medium size tiger was standing over him, staring down at him with big blue eyes.

"Why would I kill you, Harry?" said Roku's voice.

Harry stared around wildly. "Roku?! Where are you?"

"Right here," said the tiger.

Harry gaped. "Wha…?"

"It's me," said the tiger, "Roku." And just like that, the tiger disappeared in a shimmer of blue light and Roku was crouching over Harry on all fours, his long dark braid hanging down past Harry's face.

"You… you're an animagus?"

"Sort of." Roku moved aside and sat down on his knees with his heels folded under him. "Professor Dumbledore said I shouldn't tell anyone, but it's hard being a human all the time. I was born a tiger."

"What?" Harry sat up, scratching his head in confusion.

"I was born a tiger."

"But…" Harry's brow wrinkled in increasing confusion. "You said Professor Winner was your mother."

"That's right."

"But he's human."

"He wasn't when he had me. He was a tiger."

"But…" Harry put his head in his hands. "But your fathers are all human. How could they mate with a tiger? Were they tigers, too?"

"No," Roku laughed. "They were all men and Mama was a woman when they made me. But Mama turned into a tiger when I was born, so I came out a tiger. I like being a tiger."

"What a minute!" Harry held up a hand. "So that means Professor Winner is an animagus."

"Yes, he is."

"But nobody knows."

"That's right, except for Professor Dumbledore."

"I think I have a headache."

"Would you like an aspirin?"

"You have aspirin?"

"Of course." Roku produced a small plastic bottle of aspirin. "You should only take one. They're extra strength. Here's some water." He produced an unopened bottle of water.

Harry stared and then accepted an aspirin tablet and the bottle of water. "This is really weird."

"You want to go exploring with me? I was just terrorizing Mr. Peeves and now I want to chase ghosts. There's a headless horseman that Nearly Headless Nick doesn't like and I thought I would steal his head."

"You can touch ghosts?"

"Sure. You just have to know where to grab them. Let's go swipe the headless horseman's head. We can hide it and blame it on Peeves. He's annoying."

Harry began to laugh. "Why not? This could be fun."

Later that evening, when the others returned from Hogsmeade, Harry was exhausted. Roku was fast in tiger form and Harry had had trouble keeping up with him. But Ron and Hermione had brought him a whole bunch of stuff from Hogsmeade and there was lots of stuff to talk about, so he never got around to mentioning his afternoon chasing a talking tiger through the dim back halls of Hogwarts. The Halloween feast was fantastic and everyone ate far too much, although no one could keep up with Roku. He emptied entire platters all by himself. He winked at Harry.

"Playing is hard work."

"It is the way you do it," Harry agreed. He put away a goodly number of plates of food himself.

Ron stared at them suspiciously. "What else did you do today, Harry? You told us about Lupin, but you must have done more than that."

"Oh, nothing, really," Harry said airily. "Roku and I were just playing, that's all."

"Playing what?" Ron glanced from one to the other, looking a little unhappy.

"Um, hide-and-seek."

Roku giggled.

Ron frowned.

"What does it matter what they were doing?" Hermione interrupted. "As long as Harry had fun."

"I guess."

The Halloween feast was a smashing success and everyone was still talking excitedly about the food and the entertainment as they returned to their common rooms. But outside the Gryffindor common room, a crowd had formed.

"Why don't they go in?" asked Roku.

"I don't know," Harry replied.

"The Fat Lady's gone and her portrait's been shredded!" a frightened Gryffindor relayed to them.

"What?!"

But the news was worse than that. When Dumbledore and several other professors arrived to investigate, they were informed by a rather harried looking Peeves that the Fat Lady had run off because she was attacked by Sirius Black.

Harry went pale.

"Who's Sirius Black?" Roku asked curiously.

"Oh, just a man they say is trying to kill me."

"He's a dangerous maniac!" Hermione added.

"Oh. Well, if I smell him again, I'll let you know."

Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at Roku. "You know what Sirius Black smells like?"

"I do now."

"There must be a hundred people standing in this hallway!" Ron exclaimed. "How can you possibly pick out the scent of someone who isn't even here anymore?"

Roku shrugged. "That's easy. It's the only scent that doesn't belong to someone who's here. And besides, it's all over the Fat Lady's portrait."

Ron's eyes went round. "But you know what this means, don't you? You could track down Sirius Black. We could catch him before he can kill Harry!"

"I suppose," Roku shrugged, "but I would have to ask Mama first. I don't think I'm supposed to hunt dangerous killers by myself."

"None of us should!" Hermione said firmly. "We should tell Professor Dumbledore at once."

"No," said Harry as they were ushered back downstairs to the Great Hall. "I don't want to be any more the center of attention than I already am. If Roku can smell Sirius Black, he can warn me if I'm in any danger. Let's just keep this to ourselves."

"I don't think that's a good idea," said Hermione.

"Let's do as Harry says," Ron countered. "After this, I doubt Black will be able to get into the castle again. There's no point making a needless fuss."

"If you say so," Hermione said doubtfully. "But if there's another incident, we're going to Dumbledore right away. I insist."

"Sure, Hermione," Ron and Harry intoned together.

Roku leaned close to Harry. "She's kind of bossy, isn't she?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "You've barely scratched the surface, Roku. Just wait until she really hits her stride."


	8. Quidditch

Chapter 8: **Quidditch**

In the Great Hall, the tables were removed to provide a vast space for sleeping, which was necessary because the students from the other three houses were herded into the Great Hall with the Gryffindors so the entire castle could be searched. Because they were familiar with the grounds, Heero, Duo and Trowa joined the search while everyone else stayed in the Great Hall with the students. Huddled in squishy purple sleeping bags, the students whispered nervously despite repeated demands from Percy to keep quiet.

Hermione leaned close to her friends. "We should have known something terrible would happen!" she whispered. "I heard a banshee's cry the other day."

"I heard it, too!" Neville whispered fearfully. "My grandma says that's bad luck. Someone usually dies."

Everyone stared at Harry.

Harry scowled. "I'm not going to die!" he grumbled. "Professor Trelawney is bats."

"But still…" Hermione said. "I've never heard a banshee before."

"Then how do you know it was one?" Harry demanded.

"Well, um…" Hermione thought quickly. "It sounded just the way it's described in the text books."

"That wasn't a banshee," Roku spoke up. "It was Jett."

"What?"

"Jett screams really loud. She can shatter things."

Neville's eyes went round. "Your sister is a banshee?"

"I don't think so," Roku said.

"Could you phrase that a little more decisively, please?" Harry muttered.

"I'm pretty sure she's not a banshee?"

"That's not much better."

It was a long night and no one slept well. The next day, the weather turned unbelievably foul. Wind, rain and cold swept over Hogwarts and no one wanted to go outside anymore, except that Oliver Wood insisted that the Gryffindor Quidditch team had to practice.

"We have to beat Slytherin!" was Oliver's motto and he drove them relentlessly.

But they had to practice under the watchful eye of Madam Hooch because Sirius Black had not been caught and everyone worried about Harry. But Harry wondered why they bothered, because the clouds and fog were so thick during practice that he doubted Sirius Black could have found him if they ended up nose to nose on broomsticks.

Heero and Duo also watched the practices, although Heero was there mostly because Duo insisted on watching.

"Why do you want to watch this?" Heero grumbled, wiping water off his face for the millionth time. "It's not even a game; it's just practice."

"I'm trying to figure out the rules."

"You can't even see them!"

"But I can tell where they are." Duo tapped his head. "Anyway, I think I've figured it out."

"What's the point? It's just a stupid sports event."

"Which means I can bet on it."

"What?!"

"I can bet on it." Duo grinned. "These people are crazy about this game and their team loyalty is intense, which means they will make bets based on passion. I can get ridiculous odds out of them and clean up."

"You're planning to rip off a bunch of kids?" Heero said with a glower.

"Hardly." Duo looked up at the stormy sky. "Lots of teachers, former students and people from Hogsmeade watch the games. Besides, I consider it a sacred duty to teach young people how to bet wisely." He winked at Heero. "Never put your money where your heart is."

"You're scum, you know that?"

"But that doesn't keep you from wanting to fuck me," Duo chuckled. "I think they've finished for the day."

The Quidditch players dropped down out of the sky, wet and bedraggled. Harry especially looked like a half-drowned cat and just about as happy. But even though everyone was cold and wet and clearly wanted to just go inside and sit in front of a crackling fire, Oliver kept them in the locker room for nearly an hour, going over strategies and rehashing what went wrong during practice. When the Quidditch players finally dragged their way back to the castle, even the twins were drooping.

Harry didn't notice that Heero and Duo were waiting for the team by the castle entrance and he yelped in surprise when Duo dropped an arm around his shoulders.

"Hey, Harry, why don't you come up to our rooms and visit? The girls want to play with you."

Harry groaned. "I'm pretty tired…"

"Nonsense!" Duo exclaimed airily. "You've got to build up your stamina if you want to be able to hold your own in an orgy."

"A… an… or… gy?" Harry stammered. His cheeks turned redder than Ron's hair.

"Not right now!" Duo laughed. "When you grow up. But you gotta be prepared. You never know when great opportunities for unbridled sex are gonna spring up. You gotta stay strong and be ready."

Harry blinked rapidly. The color did not leave his cheeks. "I don't think," he said faintly, "that's something I need to be prepared for."

Duo chuckled. "But what's the Boy Scout motto?"

"Be prepared," Harry mumbled under his breath.

"Right!" Duo clapped him on the back. "So come upstairs. I promise not to let the girls drag you into the bathtub immediately. But I bet a hot bath would feel good right now, wouldn't it?"

Harry reluctantly nodded. A hot bath did sound good. "But… I wouldn't have to play that game, would I?" His voice shook. "I don't think I have the strength after practice."

"Well, I'll cut you some slack there," Duo said. He thumped Heero's arm. "Even this pinnacle of manliness is terrified of bathing the children."

"I can understand why," Harry muttered. But he allowed himself to be dragged upstairs. In the Gundam pilots' suite, he was immediately accosted by Alexa and Jett.

"Yay!" Alexa shouted. "It's Harry! Come play Chutes and Ladders with us."

Harry was relieved to be invited to play something so mundane until he saw the playing board. The meter square board was three-dimensional and had actual chutes and ladders on it. The playing squares were block towers and the playing pieces were little people who had to clamber from square to square, struggling up the ladders and squealing in terror when they went down a chute.

Quatre smiled indulgently. "I got the idea from your wizard chess game. I thought it would make this game more fun for the girls."

Harry stared. "You made this?"

"No, Roku did after I told him what I wanted. He makes stuff from scratch a lot faster than I do." The door banged open and Quatre looked over his shoulder. "And speak of the devil."

"Harry!" Roku cried. He bounded over on all fours, having switched to tiger form as soon as he came through the door. He tackled the young wizard and proceeded to slobber all over his face.

"Ew! Yuck! Roku!" Harry struggled, but trying to escape the swipes of that giant tiger tongue was pretty much impossible.

Alexa and Jett giggled. "Give up, Harry!" Alexa laughed. "He'll stop when you're nice and soggy."

"But my glasses!" Harry protested, although it was far too late for that. His spectacles were already so slimy it was doubtful he could see out of them.

"At least it keeps the tiger spit out of your eyes," Zechs pointed out without looking up from the book he was reading.

"You taste like clouds," Roku announced. "Were you flying?"

"Yeah. We had Quidditch practice."

"Can I come to Quidditch practice? I can fly."

"On a broomstick?" Harry tried and failed to shove Roku off his chest. "I can't breathe."

"Sorry." Roku moved aside and sat down with his tail curled around his paws. "I don't know how to fly on a broomstick. Can I just be a bird? Or I could be a dragon."

Harry sat up and started patting around for a dry spot on his clothes so he could clean his glasses, but after flying around in the rain for a couple of hours, even with his Quidditch uniform on, his pants and shirt were soaked. Then he stopped and squinted at Roku. "Wait a minute. Did you just say you could be a dragon?"

"Yeah."

"But…"

"It's really not hard to turn into stuff."

"I'll take your word for it." Harry resumed searching for a dry spot to clean his glasses.

Alexa leaned over and stared directly into his face. "You're cute without your glasses. Why don't you get contacts?"

Harry flushed. "I'm lucky my uncle pays for my glasses. He wouldn't even get them until I started breaking things because I couldn't see."

"Too bad." Alexa grinned. "I bet the girls would really go for you."

"Or maybe the boys!" Duo added cheerfully.

Harry's blush deepened. "I'm not interested in that kind of thing," he said firmly, but his voice squeaked a little.

"What? Sex with girls, sex with guys or sex in general? Trust me, it's all good."

"Um…" Harry scrambled to his feet. "I need to find something to clean my glasses."

"Quit embarrassing Harry, Duo," Quatre said. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to Harry. "Not everyone thinks every day should start and end with sex."

Complete silence fell and everyone looked at Quatre.

Quatre flushed. "Well, what I mean is…"

"Please explain," Treize said, blinking innocently.

"Um…"

"Well, there are those days when he never makes it out of bed," Duo volunteered. "Then the sex just flows straight through from morning to evening, so it's not like the day ever really started, is it?"

"That makes sense," said Trowa. He grinned at Quatre.

Quatre scowled. "You people are disgusting!"

"Yeah, but who was the first person to do that Olympian position?" Duo continued. "I think you're still the best at it."

"Oh, shut up!"

Harry made a break for the door, but Jett and Alexa leaped up and caught him by the hands.

"I wanna take a bath with Harry," Jett announced loudly. The light fixtures rattled.

"Only if you keep your voice down," Heero said sternly.

"Yes, Papa Heero."

Hadeya stood up with a resolute expression. "I'll supervise the bath," he said. "I'll make sure Harry doesn't drown."

Harry paled.

"Remember, he's tired from Quidditch practice," Duo said. "Be gentle."

"We will!" Jett and Alexa chorused, but their grins did not bode well for Harry.

"I'll go too," Roku said. "I want to wash my fur."

Hadeya and the four youngsters headed for the bathroom. Once there, Roku immediately leaped into the water.

"Are you going to stay like that?" Harry asked nervously as he undressed.

"It's ok," Alexa assured him. "Roku never scratches anybody. He's really careful." And then she took a running jump and leaped from the side of the bath, landing on Roku's back. "Hah! Got you!"

Roku rolled over, grabbed Alexa's arm in his mouth and dragged her under. After an alarmingly long time, they both exploded back to the surface, laughing. Harry was amazed to see that the water was not stained with blood. He handed his glasses to Hadeya and climbed gingerly into the bath.

"How do you do that without breaking the skin?"

"Like this!" Roku said with a grin and he clamped down on Harry's arm.

Harry stared. "It's like you don't have any teeth!" He lifted Roku's lip and looked in his mouth. A frighteningly impressive set of razor sharp fangs and crushing molars glistened in Roku's mouth, but wherever those teeth intersected his arm, they became semi-translucent. "How do you do that?" Harry was fascinated. He tried to touch one of the translucent sections and his finger went through it. But farther up the tooth, it was completely solid.

Roku let go. "I phase shift them out. It's the same way I hid Asgard from Earth."

Harry's eyes went round. "Hid Asgard…"

Roku blinked. "Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that."

"But hold on!"

"Let's play!" Roku said brightly. He splashed to the edge. "Come on, Jett! Let's have hermit crab races."

"But…!" Harry protested.

"Come on, Harry!" Alexa grabbed his arm. "How long can you hold your breath?"

"What?!"

"Think like a hermit crab!" And Alexa pulled Harry under the water.

Not much later, Harry clung gasping to the edge of the bath, his forehead slumped on his arms. "I thought you said you wouldn't let me drown!" he moaned to Hadeya.

"It seemed like you were holding your own."

"That was desperation!"

Hadeya chuckled. "It builds stamina."

"Why does everyone think I need stamina?!"

"Harry!" cried Hermione's voice. "There you are! We wondered what happened to you." She and Ron entered the bath and stared curiously.

"Oh! Um!" Harry pressed up against the side of the tub, acutely aware that Hermione was a girl and he was completely naked. "You shouldn't be in here when boys are bathing!" he exclaimed.

Hermione's lips pressed into a thin line and she pointed at Alexa and Jett. "They are not boys," she said in a clipped tone.

"Well, but, they're _little_ girls!" Harry exclaimed.

Hermione folded her arms, glaring, but Ron suddenly grabbed her arm and pointed wildly across the bath.

"Her… Hermione!" Ron stammered. "It's a… a… tiger!"

Hermione's eyes went as round as Ron's and they both stared.

"Harry!" Ron exclaimed. "What are you doing in a bathtub with a tiger?"

"Oh, well, you see," Harry floundered. "Um, it's, well, uh…"

"It's Roku!" Jett announced, causing the lights to dim and a small tsunami to crash across the bath.

"Quietly, Jett," Hadeya admonished her.

"Sorry!"

"Roku?" Ron stammered in confusion, but Hermione was squinting more closely at the tiger.

Roku swam across the bath and shimmered into human form. "Hi, guys."

"Ah!" Ron shouted and he skittered backward several steps.

Harry suddenly squinted at Roku. "Wait a minute! You had clothes on when you changed before. What happened to them?"

"I put them in my storage space so they wouldn't get wet."

"But you change shapes almost instantaneously!"

"I do it a lot." Roku grinned. "I can't very well have clothes on when I'm a tiger. They wouldn't fit anyway. I'm not as big when I'm a boy."

"You're an animagus!" Hermione squealed and she clapped her hands. "That's absolutely marvelous. Can you change back again?"

"Sure." Roku shimmered back into tiger form.

Hermione bent over and stroked his fur. "Oh! It's real! This is so amazing!"

"Hermione!" Ron gasped. "How can you just touch him? He's a tiger! What if he bites your hand off?"

"Don't be an idiot, Ron!" Hermione laughed. "It's Roku! Why would he bite my hand off?" She stood up. "Anyway, Harry, you should get out. It's almost dinner time and you need to change clothes."

"Uh, right." But Harry made no move to exit the bath.

"Oh, honestly!" Hermione exclaimed. "I'll wait outside." She marched out the door with her nose in the air.

Hadeya chuckled. "In many cultures, it is common for men and women to bathe together."

"Well, it's not common in England!" Harry said. He heaved himself out of the water and quickly put on his still-damp clothes. "You'd better hurry, too, Roku."

Roku climbed out of the bath and shook furiously, showering water in all directions.

"Ugh! Roku!" Harry exclaimed. "Wasn't I wet enough already?"

"Sorry!" Roku shimmered into human form wearing dry clothes.

"That's not fair!" Harry grumbled.

"I can dry out your clothes if you want."

"Really? You'd better use your wand, though, or Hermione will get mad."

"I don't have it."

"You don't have your wand?" Ron was scandalized.

"Mama told me not to put it in my storage space, so I keep forgetting it. It's with my books and robe."

"Well, let's get it. You'll need your robe for dinner anyway." The three boys left.

"All right, girls," Hadeya said. "Time to get out. We need to dress for dinner."

"Yay! Food!"

And so the days went although, impressively, the weather managed to get worse every day, until the Gryffindor Quidditch team was practicing in what seemed like gale force winds. And then the other shoe fell. Oliver Wood announced to the team that they would be playing Hufflepuff, not Slytherin, because the Slytherin seeker was "too injured" to play.

"Can you believe it?" Harry fumed to Roku privately later. "That wretched Malfoy isn't hurt at all! I had to grow bones back and I still didn't miss a match and he got some pissing little hippogriff scratch weeks ago and can't play? It's ridiculous! Buckbeak should have ripped off his head." He flung himself into a chair in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room.

Roku sat on the rug in front of the fire. "I think I could do a hippogriff," he said thoughtfully.

"What?"

"I think I can turn into a hippogriff. Then I could fly with you during the Quidditch match just in case."

"Um, I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

The day of the Quidditch match was the foulest anyone had seen for a long time. The clouds were so thick that it might as well have been night. Wind howled across the pitch, whipping the flags and making the stands creak. Rain pelted down out of the sky, instantly soaking anyone foolish enough to step out in it, which of course meant everyone at Hogwarts, because everyone scurried down to the field to watch the match.

Duo was positively gleeful and Heero glowered at him suspiciously.

"What are you so cheerful about?"

"Hee-hee!" Duo chuckled. "I got a bunch of Gryffindor fans to give me four-to-one odds on Hufflepuff. And then I got a bunch of Slytherins to give me three-to-one odds on Gryffindor. I'll clean up either way."

Heero rolled his eyes.

Once the match started, it was nearly impossible to follow the action. Quidditch is a naturally fast paced game, but with clouds and rain obscuring everyone's vision, following the players and the balls was difficult. Duo was the only one who seemed to know where everyone was at any given moment, but suddenly he ducked his head with a grunt.

"Damn! It's those stupid dementors!" He rubbed his right temple.

"They're not supposed to be on the grounds!" Heero growled and he leaped out of his seat. "Wu-Fei! Come with me!" Still rubbing his temples, Duo dashed after Heero and Wu-Fei.

Down on the field, dementors suddenly appeared out of nowhere, staring up into the sky. Freezing cold swept over the stands and it suddenly got darker. The spectators, who a moment before had been shouting in excitement, fell into a strangled silence.

"Look out!" someone suddenly shouted. "Harry's falling!"

Heero and Wu-Fei dashed out onto the field with the other Gundam pilots on their heels.

"Get behind me!" Wu-Fei ordered and he shot fire across the field, singeing dementors indiscriminately.

Zechs, however, braving both fire and dementors, raced onto the field and skidded to a halt under Harry, catching the young wizard as he fell.

"Thank you, everyone," Dumbledore said, his voice all business. He pointed his wand and a searing white light washed across the dementors, causing them to scatter like leaves.

Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff Seeker, landed in a panic, the golden snitch clutched in his right fist. "That's a foul!" he exclaimed. "We should have a rematch!"

"No," Dumbledore said quietly. "The game is over. Hufflepuff wins." He turned toward Harry. "Let's get him to the infirmary."

Ron and Hermione hurried after the floating stretcher along with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Roku went with them.

Ron glanced at Roku. "I thought Professor Chang wasn't a wizard."

"He's not."

"How did he make the fire, then? It was like it just came shooting out of his mouth."

"Oh," Roku grinned sheepishly. "Sometimes Papa Wu-Fei breathes fire."

"What?"

"It's nothing, really. It was a gift from a dragon."

"What?"

"He hardly has any other dragon traits at all, except for the scales."

"Scales?!" Ron stared. "Professor Chang has scales?"

"Not everywhere. Mostly just on his back."

Ron's mouth worked silently.

"Hurry up, Ron!" Hermione said. "I want to make sure Harry's all right."

"Did you here what he said?" Ron demanded.

"Of course. Professor Chang breathes fire and has scales. Now can we please focus on what's important? Harry might be seriously hurt." Hermione hurried ahead with a strained look on her face.

"A fire-breathing man with scales is not important?" Ron exclaimed under his breath. "She needs to get her priorities straight."

But as it turned out, Harry was not hurt, just disoriented from the mental assault of the dementors. But he became horribly depressed when he learned that Gryffindor had lost the match _and_ his Nimbus Two Thousand broomstick had been whacked to bits by the Whomping Willow. He had to stay in the infirmary for a few days and he received a constant stream of visitors, but nothing really cheered him up. But then Sunday evening after dinner, Jett and Alexa invaded the infirmary with Zechs and Hadeya carrying the Chutes and Ladders board between them.

"We came to play with you," Alexa said. Jett nodded gravely.

"Oh, thanks." Harry sat up and crossed his legs so Zechs and Hadeya could put the board on his bed. The little playing pieces stood in a group in one corner, staring up at him. Harry stared back. "Are those real people? They look real."

Zechs chuckled. "We decided it was better not to ask Roku how he made them. But they don't seem to eat or excrete, so we don't think they're real."

"Roku said they were self-projecting holograms," Hadeya said. He frowned slightly. "I do not quite understand what that is."

"I want this one," Alexa said and she picked up a playing piece that looked like a little girl wearing a flowered dress. The piece grasped Alexa's fingers and wiggled its legs as it was moved to the starting square.

Jett picked a piece that looked like a tall man wearing a bowler hat.

After a slight hesitation, Harry picked a piece that looked like a young man wearing a wizard's robe. The piece squirmed in his fingers and he quickly moved it to the starting square. He looked at Zechs and Hadeya. "Are you going to play?"

"No, we'll just watch," Zechs said. The two men sat down on the beds on either side.

Harry ducked his head. "By the way, thank you," he said to Zechs. "I heard you caught me when I fell."

"You're welcome," Zechs replied with a smile, "although I doubt Dumbledore would have let you hit the ground at full speed. He was right on top of the situation."

"I hate dementors!" Harry declared angrily. "They shouldn't have been there. They made us lose the match!"

Zechs nodded. "You've a right to feel that way. It was pretty disruptive." He smiled at Harry. "How would you like a few private fencing lessons as a consolation? You have good reflexes. That's what makes you a good Seeker and I think it would lend itself well to hand-to-hand combat."

"Really?" Harry immediately perked up. "That would be great!"

"All right then, we'll do that. Our next fencing lesson is on Tuesday, so why don't you stay afterward?"

"I will and thanks!" Harry felt much better after that, even when his tiny playing piece was forced to slide down a long chute and squealed like a girl the whole way.


	9. More Trouble

Chapter 9: **More Trouble**

"Where are we going today?" Trowa asked Hagrid eagerly as they left the big man's hut and headed for the Forbidden Forest.

"Well, now," Hagrid said, and he put a big finger by the side of his nose, "it's a surprise, yeh might say."

"Oh?" Trowa brightened.

"Yeh'll like this," Hagrid assured him with a rumbling chuckle.

The two men hiked deep into the woods, to where the tree branches tangled together overhead and produced a chilly, dripping twilight at the forest floor. All around them, animals large and small could be heard, and sometimes seen, some watching boldly, others timidly, as the big man and the smaller man strode by.

Trowa tipped his head to the side and listened. "Everything knows you."

"Wha's that?" Hagrid asked.

"The creatures," Trowa said. "Everything knows you. They're all talking about you."

Hagrid blinked and his cheeks reddened above his thick beard. "Yeh don' say? Well, I do like to help out here an' there when I'm walkin' about."

"It's appreciated."

Hagrid grinned broadly and his eyes brightened. They walked a little farther and then he stopped, holding up one enormous hand. "This is it," he said in a low voice. "We'll wait here."

Trowa stopped and looked around expectantly. There were dozens of creatures still watching them, chattering away. Then the footfalls of a heavy creature could be heard approaching them. "Oh!" Trowa exclaimed. Stepping through the trees came a centaur, his long blond hair and golden hide gleaming in the gloom under the trees.

Hagrid beamed proudly. "This here is Firenze," he said as the centaur reached them. He leaned toward Trowa. "He's one of the more talkative one's, mind. Centaurs are a closed-mouth bunch, most o' the time."

Firenze inclined his head politely to Trowa. "Humans chatter endlessly about nothing," he said with a slight smile, "just like birds. We centaurs prefer to speak when there is something profound to discuss."

"Do you understand the birds?" Trowa asked.

"I don't, but there are those among our kind who claim they do."

Hagrid dropped a huge hand onto Trowa's shoulder. "This gentleman here, Trowa Barton by name, can speak to animals! Ain't that somethin'?"

Firenze regarded Trowa curiously. "Is that so? You can communicate with all creatures?"

"That's right," Trowa nodded. "And I'd have to agree with you about the birds. They do chatter a lot. Mostly about their mates, their nests, their eggs and where the best food can be found. They also seem to spend an awful lot of time singing about the weather. I hadn't realized how many different kinds of wind there are until I started listening to birds."

Firenze nodded gravely. "I imagine that would be so. Creatures of flight must be highly attuned to nuances of the air. We centaurs are more attuned to the turning of the world. Are you a student of Astrology, Trowa Barton?"

"Uh, no."

"Few humans are. One wonders how they survive just letting fate happen to them without any preparation."

"But if it's fate," Trowa said thoughtfully, "doesn't that mean you can't do anything about it?"

"Yes and no." Firenze frowned slightly. "Some fates are unavoidable, but others can be averted."

"But if you can avert it, is it fate?"

Firenze pawed at the ground. "I will try to explain. The future can be seen in the heavens, but sometimes multiple paths are indicated. In this case, certain actions may bring about certain fates."

"It sounds more like possibility than fate."

Firenze frowned. "That's one way to look at it, I suppose."

"I would also think," Trowa continued, "that if I based my actions on forcing a particular fate to come about, that it could have severe impacts later. Suppose I wanted to avoid having an accident, so I chose not to go out that day, but because I didn't go out, I was not there to prevent someone else from being killed. And what if that person was someone who was supposed to discover the cure for a terrible disease? Now the whole world will continue to suffer from the disease because I didn't want to spend a few days in the hospital."

"Um," said Firenze.

"This is a well-spoken human," another deep voice said.

A second centaur, this one all-black, stepped into view.

"How do yeh do, Bane?" Hagrid said.

Bane dipped his head politely to Hagrid. "For once, I will recommend you listen to a human, Firenze," Bane said. "Have I not said countless times that attempting to change fate is pointless?"

"But the scenario he describes is purely speculative!" Firenze replied hotly.

"No, it is exactly what I have been saying all along!" Bane retorted. "Fate is fate! It cannot be changed, only altered into something far worse."

"But if fate can be altered at all," Trowa said innocently, "is it not equally likely that it could be changed into something better?"

"Exactly my point!" Firenze exclaimed.

"But then any outcome at all is likely and fate would not exist!" Bane shouted. "But centuries of reading the heavens have shown that fate does exist and the future can be predicted!"

"It is true that the stars and planets foretell significant events," Firenze responded, "but the actions of individuals have changed the foreseen path. We have all seen this!"

"But I suppose there have been certain events that occurred no matter what anyone did," Trowa put in.

"And that is fate!" Bane stated firmly, folding his muscular arms across his chest.

"But fate is not inevitable!" Firenze shot back, also folding his arms and glaring at Bane.

Hagrid cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should be gettin' along. Lot's to do an' all."

But the two centaurs did not hear him. Standing nose to nose, they continued to argue about the inevitability of fate.

"Do they always argue like this?" Trowa asked, straight-faced.

"Well, not so's I've seen," Hagrid said, scratching his head, "but they're mostly private folks, centaurs."

"Well, I suppose it's better it was me and not Wu-Fei you introduced them to. Wu-Fei would have had them questioning the value of knowing the future at all."

Back at Hogwarts, Wu-Fei sneezed. Smoke curled out of his mouth, but no flame.

"Allergies?" Quatre asked. Wu-Fei was helping Quatre install a wooden bucket on the wall next to the door of his classroom.

"No. I think someone's talking about me. Anyway, why am I helping you do this? Where's Trowa?"

"Trowa," Quatre said with an annoyed sniff, "went kiting off right after breakfast to go somewhere with Hagrid."

"Oh."

"It seems like he spends all his time with that giant," Quatre grumbled. "I hardly see him at all except at meals, and sometimes not even then. He even went out with Hagrid last night! Something about looking for moon-wraiths. Honestly!"

Wu-Fei blinked several times but wisely said nothing.

"There," Quatre finally said, "that will have to do. Thank you, Wu-Fei."

"You're welcome. Have a good class." Wu-Fei quickly left before he got roped into doing anything else.

When Quatre's students began arriving, they found Quatre waiting right inside the door. "Please deposit your wands in the bucket," he said, pointing at the new installation.

"What?" Percy, the first student to enter the door, stared at the bucket in consternation.

"You heard me," Quatre said. "Put your wands in the bucket. I've decided the only way I can keep you from sticking your hands in your pockets and fondling the damn things is to remove them from your persons. So into the bucket with them and then take your seats."

Expressions ranging from dismay to utter horror passed over the students' faces as one by one they deposited their wands into the bucket. A few, like Percy, had to have their wands pried from their reluctant fingers by Quatre.

When the last nervous, unhappy student was seated, Quatre favored them all with a brilliant smile. "Excellent! Now we can begin some truly wandless magic. Who wants to try a luminosity spell?"

Hermione immediately stuck her hand in the air.

"Very good, Miss Granger. Fix your mind on the kind of light you want to make and focus your thoughts using this phrase: _Novi inlustris apparere_."

Hermione stood up and held out her right hand. Her brow wrinkled as she concentrated. "_Novi inlustris apparere!_" she stated in a loud, clear voice. A brief golden light flickered on her palm and vanished.

"Well done, Miss Granger!" Quatre congratulated her. "Very well done for a first try." Hermione sat down with a huge grin on her face. "Who's next?"

Percy surged to his feet with a determined look on his face. He stuck out his hand and immediately shouted: "_Novi inlustris apparere!_" Nothing happened. The students around him tittered. Looking angry and embarrassed, he tried again. Still nothing.

"You're pushing too hard, Percy," Quatre said. "You can't force the light to appear; you have to will it to appear."

"But that's the same thing!" Percy exclaimed.

"No, it's not."

"But what do you mean by that, Professor?" said an earnest-looking sixth year Ravenclaw girl.

"Well," Quatre said thoughtfully. "Suppose a boy wanted to kiss you and he mashed his lips on yours very hard. Would you like that?"

The girl's cheeks colored and she quickly shook her head.

"Suppose instead he cupped your face in his hands, looked into your eyes, drew your mouth to his and gently kissed your lips?"

The girl got a dreamy look on her face. "That sounds much better," she said with a sigh.

"That is the difference," Quatre concluded. "The magic must flow naturally through your body. If you're all tensed up, it can't get through. You have to relax and want it to happen. You might be able to force magic out of your wand with effort alone, but when you have only your body as the conduit, you have to be open and let the magic flow."

Hermione raised her hand. "But in that case, Professor Winner, wouldn't magic with a wand be that much more powerful if you draw the magic through your body first?"

"Excellent, Miss Granger! Five points for Gryffindor. You have stated the exact value of practicing wandless magic. It will make you a confident sorcerer with and without a wand, but you will end up even more powerful with a wand."

At that every student in the class straightened up.

The Ravenclaw girl stuck her hand in the air. "May I try next, Professor Winner?"

"Go ahead."

The girl stood up and held out her hand. She drew a breath, focused her eyes on her palm and said: "_Novi inlustris apparere._" A flicker of pink light flashed above her palm. "Oh! I did it!"

"Very good!" Quatre beamed at her. "Come now, gentlemen! It's two to nothing in favor of the girls. Are you going to let that stand?"

"No!" cried a number of masculine voices and more hands shot into the air.

At the end of class, everyone was chattering excitedly.

"I could just _feel_ the power, you know?" one Hufflepuff boy exclaimed excitedly.

"I know!" responded a Slytherin girl, forgetting for the moment that Hufflepuff boys were totally beneath her. "I could feel it, too! It was just amazing!"

Already standing by the bucket, Percy shuffled through the collected wands with an irritated look on his face. "This is ridiculous! We'll be late for our next class if we have to paw through here every week looking for our wands!"

"Hurry up, Percy!" someone exclaimed. "Can't you tell your own wand from everyone else's?"

Before Percy could respond, Quatre waved a hand. "Stand back, please," he said calmly. "_Thrysi apud eri._" Instantly, the wands leaped out of the bucket and zoomed to the waiting hands of their owners. "Off you go, then."

"How did you do that?!" Percy demanded. "Summoning a wand to you is one thing, but…"

Quatre sighed. "Percy, you really need to think more expansively. Your wands know who they belong to. I just told them to go to their owners. It's that simple."

Percy stared with his mouth open.

"You're going to be late to your next class."

Percy snapped his mouth closed and hurried out.

Hermione lingered after class. "Professor Winner, where did you learn magic? The things you can do are… just amazing!"

"Merlin was a good teacher," Quatre said absently.

"Merlin?! THE Merlin?!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Oh! Ah…" Quatre bit his lip. "What I meant was…"

"How could you have possibly studied under Merlin?!" Hermione demanded. "If he even existed, it would have been hundreds of years ago!"

"Well, you see, I had this opportunity…" Quatre fumbled, but then he caught Hermione by the shoulder and hustled her to the door. "But we can talk about it some other time. You'll be late for your next class."

"But Professor Winner…!"

"Later!" Quatre rather unceremoniously shoved the young witch out the door and slammed it closed. "Damn it! I'm getting as bad as Roku!"

At dinner later, a determined-looking Hermione plopped down next to Roku, shoving Harry over so she could squeeze in. "All right!" she declared without preamble. "I want to know who taught Professor Winner magic."

"Mr. Merlin."

"You mean Merlin the Wizard who served King Arthur?"

Yes, that one." Food appeared and Roku immediately helped himself to half-a-dozen chicken legs, an enormous helping of shepherd's pie, a couple of rolls and some grilled tomatoes.

"And just when did he meet Merlin?"

"When they were in Camelot."

"Your family went to Camelot?"

"Just for a year or so." Roku shoveled a heaping spoonful of shepherd's pie into his mouth. "I like this food. It comes already mixed together."

"Wait a minute." Hermione held up a hand. "When were they in Camelot?"

"In the past. That's when Camelot is." Roku stripped all the meat off a chicken leg in a single bite, making a small snarling noise.

"Don't eat like a tiger," Hermione said with a small frown. "And I don't understand. How could they go to Camelot in the past?"

"Time travel. Don't you wizards and witches do that?"

Hermione paled and she quickly looked around. "Time travel is impossible."

"No, it isn't. You just have to know how."

"But… but… what about paradoxes?" Hermione swallowed. "Don't you worry about running into yourselves?"

"Should that be paradox-_i_?" Harry asked Ron around a mouthful of chicken.

"No, I think it's ok like that."

"Would you two stop interrupting?" Hermione exclaimed. "Are you even listening? He said his parents time-traveled to Camelot!"

"I was born there," Roku chimed in.

"What?!"

"That's where Mama was when he turned into a woman and got pregnant with me. He was just learning self-transformation and messed up the spell. Switching sexes is a different spell, so he wasn't sure how to turn back, which is why he was a woman for long enough to get knocked up by my fathers." Roku giggled. "It's kind of fun being a girl," he said to Harry. "You should try it."

"That's ok!" Harry said quickly.

Hermione made a strangling sound. "Are you saying you were a girl once?"

"Just for a few hours. My aunts wanted to play with my hair and they thought it would be better if I was a girl, so I switched."

"I bet you were pretty," Harry said without thinking and then blushed furiously.

But fortunately for him, Ron was not listening. He was staring at Roku in horror. "But if you were a girl, what happened to your…?" He trailed off into a strangled silence while Hermione turned bright red.

"I didn't have one, of course," Roku said matter-of-factly. "Girls don't have…"

"Can we get back to the original topic of discussion?" Hermione interrupted loudly, her cheeks flaming. "How can you travel so far back in time?"

Roku shrugged. "We've been farther back than that. Oh, goody! More shepherd's pie!" He scooped several more mounds onto his plate.

"Maybe you should just drop it, Hermione," Harry advised. "Roku's family isn't like any other wizarding family anyone's ever met."

"So it would seem," Hermione agreed faintly. She half-heartedly began to eat. But then her expression brightened. "But just imagine it! Traveling into the distant past. We could go back and meet famous wizards and witches. Imagine it!"

"I am," Ron said dourly. "I bet we'd mess something up and cause ourselves to never be born."

"Papa Duo fathered some children in the past," Roku volunteered, "and Papa Wu-Fei speculated that he might have become his own ancestor."

Ron groaned. "Can we stop talking about this? I'm getting a headache."

"But it's fascinating!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Only to over-educated people like you!" Ron exclaimed. He shoved his plate away. "I think I'm finished."

"Wait a second, Ron!" Harry said. "Are you coming to fencing club tomorrow?"

"I guess. But I'm going to go check on Scabbers now." Ron sighed. "He looked like he'd lost even more hair this morning." He shuffled off with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slumped.

"Why doesn't he just accept that his rat is dying?" Hermione grumbled to herself.

"It might not be so bad if you could get Crookshanks to quit chasing him," said Harry.

"He's a cat!"

"I'm just saying…"

"Hmph!" Hermione snorted. She leaned over her plate and became very focused on eating.

"Are you staying after fencing club tomorrow, Harry?" Roku asked. "Uncle Zechs said he was going to give you private lessons."

Harry brightened. "That's right! Of course I'll stay. I'm really looking forward to it."

Unable to control her curiosity, Hermione looked up. "Why is he doing that?"

"I think it's just to cheer me up, but I wouldn't mind learning how to fence. And Count Merquise and Mr. Kushranada are so sophisticated and have so much class. I would love to be able to act like that."

"Uncle Treize would say it's not an act but just the natural behavior of a true gentleman."

"Even better!" Harry grinned wickedly. "Malfoy fancies himself such a gentleman! I would love to be able to put him in his place."

Talking about the extra lessons improved Harry's mood so much that the next day breezed by and before he knew it, it was time for the fencing club meeting. Alexa was not there but Jett was, sitting on a bench kicking her little feet while the students practiced lunges and parries.

"Ow!" Neville cried out and he dropped his wooden practice sword with a clatter. He clutched his bruised knuckles and stared apprehensively at Zechs' critical expression. "I'm sorry, Count Merquise! I didn't mean to drop it!"

Zechs stepped over and examined Neville's hand. "It doesn't look broken." He picked up Neville's sword and held it out. "What do you think you did wrong?"

"He picked up the sword in the first place!" Draco called out with a laugh. Several other students laughed, too.

Neville flushed with embarrassment.

"I don't recall including you in the conversation, Mr. Malfoy," Zechs said sternly. "Please concentrate on your own meager efforts." Draco scowled as several Gryffindor's, Harry among them, snickered. "Now, Mr. Longbottom, why did your hand get hit?"

"Because… I didn't parry properly?" Neville ventured.

"That's right. You lowered your hand when you deflected instead of raising it, which allowed Miss Mallory's sword to slide down your blade and hit your hand. It's painful with a practice sword. It would be disabling with a real blade if your hand was bare. Please try it again."

"Yes, sir." Neville took his stance and he and his opponent resumed practicing.

When class was over, Harry stayed where he was as the other students filed out. He did not notice Draco stop at the door and turn to stare at him, with his ever-present shadows Crabbe and Goyle behind him. Roku sat on the bench next to Treize and Jett.

"Now, Harry," Zechs said, "step over here and have a look at these other swords. We've been having you train with rapiers, but there is incredible variety in cutting weapons; even just in swords alone. Each weapon lends itself to a different style of fighting. This broadsword, for example," he took a long, broad-bladed wooden sword from the rack, "is designed to crush as well as cut. It's good for fighting someone wearing armor." He handed Harry the sword.

Harry tried to take it in one hand and it immediately sagged to the floor. "Wow! That's heavy! Do people really fight with these?"

"Not so much these days, but it was quite popular in the past."

Jett appeared at Harry's elbow. "That's like Papa Heero's sword," she said gravely.

"It's a little big for you, Jett," Zechs said affectionately. "Here, try this one." He handed Jett a slightly smaller broadsword like a knight might use from horseback. She gripped it firmly with both hands, holding the blade up in front of her face. "Well done, Jett! Want to try it, Harry?"

"I guess so." Harry gripped his sword with both hands and lifted it. Jett turned to face him and immediately swung her sword. It smacked against his blade and he staggered to the side. There was an explosion of laughter from the doorway.

"You're useless, Potter!" Draco sang out. "Can't even stand up to a little girl like that?" He advanced into the room with his hands on his hips. Crabbe and Goyle moved up on either side with goofy-looking grins on their plump faces.

Zechs frowned. "I had intended this session to be just for Mr. Potter," he said. "But since you're here, why don't the three of you have a go?"

"What? You want us to fight Potter?"

"No, I want you to fight Jett." Zechs smiled sweetly. "I believe we have more broadswords, don't we Roku?"

"Yes." Roku produced two more swords as Harry handed his to Draco with a smile.

"Try not to get hurt this time, Malfoy," Harry said. Draco scowled at him.

The three Slytherins faced Jett and lifted their swords. Draco struggled a little raising his. Jett did not waste time. She jumped forward and swung her sword up in a forty-five degree arc, whacking the unprepared Crabbe's sword up and over his shoulder. The boy spun around and stumbled away several steps. Goyle tried to smash his sword down on her head, but Jett skipped to the side and whacked him soundly on the butt with the flat of her blade. He yelped loudly and grabbed his butt, which meant he was only holding his sword with one hand. Jett smacked the sword out of his hand by rapping him sharply on the knuckles. Goyle yelped again and grabbed his smashed fingers. So Jett whacked him on the ass again, this time using the edge, and sent him sprawling.

Draco had managed to stay out of the fight so far by backing up several paces, but now Jett advanced on him. "Crabbe!" Draco shouted in panic.

Crabbe scurried forward with his sword raised. He swung down as he neared, but only managed to hit Draco's sword, knocking it out of his hands. Crabbe lost his balance and Jett used the opportunity to jam her sword between his knees and trip him. Crabbe went down hard with a grunt. Without missing a beat, Jett took a running step, leaped onto Crabbe's back to get more altitude and jumped into the air, swinging her sword down toward Draco's defenseless head with a wall-shaking cry.

Zechs caught her in mid-leap, one arm around her waist and the other catching her sword before it could land. "Now, Jett, I did not give you permission to brain him."

"Aw, man!" Jett complained. "I was winning!"

"Winning does not always mean reducing your opponent to a pulp."

"But Papa Heero says…"

"I know what Papa Heero says," Zechs chuckled, "but this is training, not combat."

"Ok," Jett said reluctantly.

Zechs put Jett down and pulled Crabbe, who was gasping for breath, to his feet. "You just have the wind knocked out of you," he said cheerfully.

Treize, meanwhile, was helping a teary-eyed Goyle to his feet. "I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will have something for that bruise," he said sympathetically.

Goyle clutched at his backside and took a hesitant, limping step. "Ow!"

"Um, Roku, can you do something?" Treize suggested.

"Sure." Roku trotted over and poked Goyle's butt. "_Bene Corpus._"

Goyle blinked in surprise. "It doesn't hurt!" He stared owlishly at Roku, his expression bordering on reverent. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome."

"Now," Zechs said. "If you don't mind, you're cutting into my personal time. Get out."

Scowling furiously, Draco helped the still wheezing Crabbe toward the door. "Get over here, you idiot!" he shouted at Goyle. Goyle hurried over and put a shoulder under Crabbe's other arm.

Zechs turned to Harry. "Well, that was interesting. And educational. You got to witness firsthand how the broadsword is used effectively in a fight. Did you see the differences from the instruction you've had so far?"

"Yes!" Harry nodded vigorously. "I want to try it!"

"Very good." Zechs grinned. He picked up two swords and tossed one to Harry, who caught it a little awkwardly. "Let's get started."


	10. Hogsmeade

Chapter 10: **Hogsmeade**

As Ron and Harry worked over their cauldron in Potions class, Ron kept throwing glances at Neville and Roku, who were working together. Roku had a very pensive look on his face as he measured out the ingredients for the day's potion but Neville looked utterly bewildered.

"I say, Harry, maybe one of us should have paired with Roku and the other with Neville. Lord only knows what's going to come out of their cauldron at the end of class."

Harry glanced quickly at the pair, but immediately returned his attention to the frog he was flaying. "It's too late now." He scowled as he used a tiny pair of tweezers to lift away the frog's internal organs, looking for the spleen. "I don't understand why we can't be given this ingredient. They must have them in the storeroom."

"Because frog spleens are best if used fresh, Potter," Snape sneered from above and behind him. "So pay attention to what you're doing."

"Yes, sir," Harry growled.

Snape moved away and Ron muttered "Uh oh!" under his breath. Snape was staring at Neville and Roku's ingredients.

"Why is your frog not yet prepared, Longbottom?" Snape demanded. "You'll never complete the potion by the end of class if you don't remove its spleen now."

"Um, well…" Neville fumbled.

"I took it out already," Roku said.

"What?!" Snape stared down at their obviously not dead frog.

"I took it out," Roku repeated. "Frogs can live without their spleen, just like people, so I removed it without cutting him open." Roku smiled at the frog. "He seemed like a nice frog so I didn't want to kill him."

Snape gaped incredulously. His mouth worked silently for a moment. "Pray tell me," he finally rasped out, "how did you remove the spleen without killing the frog?"

All around them, students watched in hushed silence.

"Oh," Roku blinked up at Snape. "Well, I phase-shifted the scalpel so it could go in the frog without cutting and when it got to the spleen I shifted the tip back in so I could cut it free and then I phase-shifted the spleen so I could take it out and then I flash-heated the tip of the scalpel to cauterize where I cut."

Snape's mouth was hanging open. "How…" he croaked. "How could you see what you were doing?"

"I made the frog translucent first." Roku patted the frog. "Except for his spleen, of course, so it was easier to see."

"Made… translucent…" Snape stammered.

Roku looked up at Snape innocently. "Professor Snape, have I minced up my dried snakeskin fine enough?"

Snape stared down at Roku's snakeskin, which was so fine it was nearly a powder. "It's fine," he said in a strangled tone.

"Thank you, Professor." Roku moved on to his next ingredient with a satisfied smile.

Snape turned and marched stiffly to the next table. "What are you doing, Goyle?" he snapped, uncharacteristically yelling at a Slytherin. "Your minced snakeskin is abominable! It must be much finer than that!"

"Yes, sir!" Goyle cried and he began mincing so wildly that bits of snakeskin flew in all directions.

Ron was practically glowing. "That was brilliant!" he whispered to Harry. "Roku completely crushed Snape and didn't even get in trouble for it! He's fantastic!"

"Yeah," Harry chuckled. "He's the best."

After Potions class, Harry and Ron pounded Roku on the back when they were safely out of Snape's sight.

"That was fantastic, Roku!" Ron exclaimed. "I've never seen Snape put in his place by a student like that before! You were magnificent!"

Roku blinked. "But I didn't do anything."

"Didn't do anything?" Ron choked. "You made your frog translucent! I bet Snape doesn't even know how to do that! And phase-shifting! What's in heaven's name is that? I bet Snape doesn't know either! He practically slinked away!" Ron threw his head back and guffawed loudly.

Ron was in good spirits the rest of the day and even magnanimously forgave Hermione when Crookshanks tried to sneak up the stairs to the boys' dormitory right before dinner. At dinner, every third year Gryffindor who was in Potions class that afternoon repeated the story of Roku's stunning defeat of Snape to anyone who would listen. Even Percy cracked a smile before admonishing the students not to speak ill of a teacher. Snape himself sat at the teachers' table with a scowl so dark it was hard to tell his face from his greasy black hair.

"Sounds like you had an interesting class today, Snape," Duo said brightly. "The third years are all atwitter."

Snape glowered at Duo without answering.

Duo returned his glower with a bright smile. "It must be very fulfilling as a teacher to know you've reached your students with a lesson. What were they making today?"

"…" Snape muttered.

"What was that?" Duo put a hand by his ear. "I couldn't quite hear you."

"What is Duo playing at?" Quatre muttered. "He's always complaining how loud everyone's thoughts are."

"Truth serum," Snape growled in a louder voice.

"Truth serum? Really?" Duo's eyes went round and he blinked several times. "Did it work?"

"Truth serum must steep for three weeks!" Snape snarled. "The students' concoctions will be tested after the holidays."

"Oh, I see." Duo nodded with pursed lips. "I find this all terribly fascinating, you know. Do you mind if I visit your class that day to see how it comes out?"

Snape made a strangling sound.

"I'll just sit quietly in a corner," Duo promised. "You won't even know I'm there."

"This cannot turn out well," Quatre said under his breath to Trowa.

"Maybe we should tell Heero to keep an eye on him."

"Duo, Heero _and_ Snape together in a roomful of students," Quatre murmured. "That could end disastrously."

"Don't worry. Roku will be there."

"Somehow, that does not make me feel any better. He's the one who started all this."

"You worry too much."

"Someone has to."

"You're adorable, Quatre."

"Oh, really?" Quatre frowned at Trowa. "One would hardly think so given how little attention you've paid to me lately."

"What?"

"I bet I'm getting tight."

"What?!"

"You spend so much time hiking off into the woods with Hagrid I'm starting to think I don't attract you anymore."

Trowa blinked in astonishment. "That's impossible, Quatre! You know that!"

"Do I?" Quatre sniffed. "You left me alone in bed the other night."

"That was one night! And I had to go at night because that's the only time you can see moon-wraiths!"

"I suppose."

"Quatre…"

"You said the moon-wraiths were beautiful," Quatre sighed plaintively. "Were they better-looking than me?" He tipped his head to one side and made enormous blue puppy-eyes at Trowa.

Trowa put a hand over his face. "Stop that! You know I can't stand it when you do that!"

Quatre sighed again. "I bet you'll go wandering off with Hagrid again tonight and leave me all alone in bed with no one to keep me warm."

"I won't!" Trowa exclaimed hoarsely.

"I haven't been properly kissed for days."

"That's… not… true!" Trowa said, growling the words out between clenched teeth. "I kissed you this morning!"

"That wasn't much of a kiss. My sisters kiss me like that."

"Argh!" Trowa exclaimed. "Finish eating! We're going upstairs!"

Quatre grinned happily. "Ok!"

"That was impressive," Treize remarked as Trowa and Quatre left.

"Indeed," Zechs agreed. "Clearly, Trowa just needed reminding of how thoroughly he's wrapped around Quatre's finger."

"So it would seem."

Zechs eyed Treize casually. "Do you need reminding?"

Treize blinked. "Absolutely not."

"Because I would really hate it if you started taking me for granted."

"There is no way I could possibly take someone as beautiful, intelligent, skilled and desirable as you for granted."

Zechs nodded. "That's good to know."

"I'll prove it to you later."

"Repeatedly?"

"You'll have difficulty walking."

"That sounds nice."

"What is it with blue-eyed men?" Heero grumbled.

"Aren't you glad you're in love with me and not someone all needy like that?" Duo said cheerfully.

"I'm not in love!"

"Of course you're not," Duo chuckled.

"Shut up!" Heero growled.

At the Gryffindor table, once talk of Snape died down, everyone began chattering about the upcoming visit to Hogsmeade. As the Christmas holidays neared, another student excursion to Hogsmeade was scheduled before the winter break.

"You should come with us this time, Roku," Ron said excitedly. "Hogsmeade is an amazing place."

"But Harry still can't go," Roku said.

"That's all right, Roku," Harry said, trying not to sound as down as he felt. "You should go. You don't want to miss it on my account."

So when the weekend arrived, Roku lined up with the other students to go into town. Harry was left alone to wander the halls of Hogwarts, worrying about running into Filch or Snape and having his already depressed mode turned into one of bottomless despair. But instead, he ran into George and Fred, who gave him a marvelous gift: the Marauder's Map. Armed with the map and feeling like things were finally going his way, Harry prepared to go into Hogsmeade. Standing in front of the hump-backed witch statue with his wand in his hand, Harry nearly leaped out of his skin when someone spoke from behind him.

"What have you got there, Harry?"

Harry whirled around in a panic to find Duo standing behind him. "Oh… uh… nothing!" He tried to hide the map behind his back, even though he was sure Duo had already seen it.

Duo grinned. "Planning to sneak into town, eh?"

"Who, me?!" Harry squeaked.

"Yeah, you," Duo chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I'm not on duty at the moment."

Harry sighed in relief. "Thanks."

"So what's that?" Duo pointed at the map.

"It's a map of the castle and the surrounding area. It shows where the secret passages are." Harry's brow wrinkled. "Fred and George said I should keep it a secret."

"You can trust me," Duo said airily. "I'm good with secrets. So let's go to town before someone catches us."

"You're going to go with me?"

Duo nodded. "Heero's trying to get me to do work again, so I thought I'd slip away for a beer or two. You were about to do a spell."

"Right." Harry turned back to the statue and tapped it with his wand. "_Dissendium._" The hump opened, revealing a dark, narrow passage.

"In you go," Duo said.

Harry slipped into the opening with Duo right behind him. The hump closed above them as they slid down into darkness.

"This passage is supposed to lead into the cellar of Honeyduke's," Harry whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Duo replied. "We're underground."

Harry blushed. "I guess it's the dark."

"Make some light and let's go."

"Right." Harry held up his wand and light flared from the tip. They set off down the tunnel.

"We must be getting close," Duo said after a while. "I can hear a lot of people."

"Really?" said Harry. "I can't hear anything."

"Trust me."

Not long after, they came to the end of the tunnel. Carefully, Harry pushed opened the door to reveal a darkened cellar. Except that it didn't stay dark because a door somewhere above their heads opened and they could hear voices.

"Hide!" Harry whispered quickly and the two of them slipped behind the crates of goods stacked in the basement. Harry watched nervously as Mr. Honeyduke came down the stairs, hefted a box and went back up.

"Let's go!" Duo whispered and the two of them crept up the stairs, listened for a moment and then slipped out. They scurried out from behind the counter and immediately blended in with the dozens of students packing the store. "My, oh, my!" Duo exclaimed. "Look at all the sweets! What a marvelous store! Let's shop!"

Duo had just finished buying a large quantity of all manner of goodies when Harry tugged at his elbow. "Mr. Maxwell, we're going to have a look around the town. Care to go with us?"

"Sure." Duo grinned when he saw Roku standing next to Hermione and Ron. "Hey, Roku, do you mind carrying all this stuff for me?"

"Ok." Roku accepted Duo's bag of sweets and tucked it under his arm.

"You must have huge pockets in that robe," Hermione remarked. "You already put a bunch of stuff in there."

"It's not in my pocket," Roku said. "I put it in my storage space. There's lots of room in there."

Hermione's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "Storage space?"

"Oh, that's right!" Ron smacked his forehead. "Hermione doesn't know!" He leaned close to Hermione and lowered his voice. "Roku has a magic storage space that's like another dimension. He can put things in and take things out whenever he likes. It's totally amazing!"

"Really?" Hermione studied Roku speculatively. "Another dimension? But how do you reach it?"

Roku shrugged. "It's just attached to me. It goes wherever I go."

"But can anyone put things in and take them out?"

"No, just me. But that's because it's my storage space. Other people have their own storage spaces; although Papa Heero is the only one I know besides me who ever uses his."

Hermione's eyes widened. "You mean I have a storage space?"

"Yeah."

Hermione grabbed his arm. "How do I use it? Tell me!"

"You can't use your wand to get at it," Roku cautioned.

"I don't care! Have you any idea how much my books weigh? And I could check out even more books from the library and have extra scrolls and ink whenever I need them! You have to show me, Roku! Please!"

"Ok. I'll show you when we get back from Hogsmeade."

"Thank you!" Hermione did a little jig.

Ron exchanged a long look with Harry. "That's just what she needs!" he whispered sarcastically.

"No kidding," Harry whispered back.

As they trooped out the door of Honeyduke's into the blowing snow, Duo put his mouth next to Roku's ear. "You might want to tell her there's a limit on how much she can put in there," he said quietly.

"There is a limit," Roku replied.

"Really?"

"Yeah. You have to remember everything you put in there, otherwise stuff disappears."

"It does?"

"Yeah."

"Where does it go?"

"I don't know; it's just gone."

"Have you lost stuff?"

"Just once. At Camelot I put a dead mouse in there and forgot. I remembered about it later, but then I couldn't find it."

"That's probably just as well."

"That's what Mama said."

Duo paused. "What a minute! Does that mean you remember everything that's in your storage space right now?"

"Uh-huh. I do an inventory every night before I go to sleep just to be sure."

"Well, I'll be damned." Duo scratched his head. "So how much of it's mine?"

"By quantity, about a third. By volume, about a quarter." Roku grinned. "My mobile suits take up a lot of space, even though I shrank them."

Duo flung an arm around Roku's shoulders. "Have I mentioned lately that you're a pretty amazing kid, Roku?"

"Not lately," Roku said happily.

"Hey!" Ron called. "We're going to the Three Broomsticks to get some butterbeer."

"Beer?" Duo immediately perked up. "I'm in!"

The five of them hurried up the street to the warm and cozy pub. They found a little table in a corner beside a beautifully decorated Christmas tree and settled down to enjoy warm mugs of butterbeer, except for Duo who opted for mead instead.

He downed his entire first drink in a single pull. "That's mighty tasty!" he declared. "And perfect after the cold outside. I think I'll have another." He went back to the bar and returned with four more mugs.

"Is that all for you, Mr. Maxwell?" Hermione exclaimed, faintly scandalized.

"I'm just getting the chill off, Hermione," Duo assured her. "It would take way more than this to get me drunk." He downed his second mead without pausing for breath. "There now, that's better." He sipped the third more slowly.

The door opened and Harry nearly choked on his drink. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick entered the pub with Hagrid and Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Thinking quickly, Hermione and Ron shoved Harry under the table and Hermione caused the Christmas tree to drift in front of them.

"Harry's not supposed to be in town!" Hermione whispered to Duo. "He didn't get his permission slip signed."

"I knew that," Duo acknowledged.

The five of them listened to the conversation of the adults on the other side of the tree. Ron and Hermione exchanged shocked and frightened looks as they listened, their hands resting on Harry's shoulders comfortingly. When McGonagall and the others left, Harry crawled out from under the table looking miserable.

Duo patted his hand sympathetically. "That's bad news," he said. "Here, have a pull of this. It will get rid of the bad taste."

Without thinking, Harry accepted the mug full of mead and chugged about half of it. He wiped his mouth. "That was… horrible…" he stammered.

"Drink some more," Duo advised.

Harry chugged the rest of the mead and thumped the mug down. "My parents…" he gasped.

"Better drink this, too," Duo said. He handed Harry the last mug of mead.

Harry chugged the whole thing down without stopping. When he finished, he put the mug down with excessive care and squinted at Duo. "Tha's purty goo'," he mumbled. "Ne'er had mead b'fore."

"That's not surprising."

"Can I have 'nother?" Harry swayed in his seat.

"I think that would be ill-advised," Duo responded.

"But…" Harry swayed even more dramatically. Ron caught him by the shoulder and steadied him. "Thanks, Ron." Harry squinted at him blearily. "Yer a real frien'." And then his head thumped onto the table.

"He passed out!" Hermione squeaked.

"That was my plan," Duo said calmly. "Move the tree, would you? I'll take him back. You three should head back, too." Duo hefted Harry over one shoulder and quickly left the pub.

"Do you suppose he'll take him back through the tunnel?" Hermione asked as they followed him out.

"He can't," Ron replied. "He wouldn't be able to open the exit."

"Oh, that's right."

By the time the three of them got back to the castle, Harry was already in his bed sound asleep and Duo was nowhere in sight.

"How did he get back so fast?" Hermione exclaimed when Ron and Roku came down to report Harry's status. "We ran the whole way!"

"Papa Duo's a trained mercenary," Roku said. "Running full speed for that far carrying someone is easy for him."

"We can thank him at dinner," Ron said.

Not surprisingly, Harry did not wake up before dinner, so Ron, Hermione and Roku went down without him. When they entered the great hall, Duo came over to them.

"Harry still passed out?" Duo asked.

"Yeah," Roku said. "He drank a lot of mead."

"Bad news is easier to take with a hangover," Duo said sagely.

"What?!" Hermione and Ron exclaimed in unison.

"Trust me. I have a lot of experience with this."

"How would you know?" Heero exclaimed from behind him. "When have you ever had a hangover?"

"I had one once!"

"Yeah, right!" Heero scowled at him. "So who did you get drunk?"

"Harry," Roku said.

"You got a student drunk?!" Heero exclaimed.

"There were extenuating circumstances."

"Oh, really?"

"There were!"

Roku, Ron and Hermione all nodded.

Heero crossed his arms. "All right. I'll let that go. Just explain to me what you were doing in town, since you were obviously in town since that's where the students were."

Duo grinned sheepishly. "Ah, well, you see, it's like this: I went along to keep Harry out of trouble."

"Indeed?"

"Yes. And it's a good thing I went, too! It turns out he's in danger."

"He is?"

"Yes!"

"From someone other than the thoughtless person who got him passed-out drunk?"

"Yes!" Duo said indignantly. "And as a member of Hogwarts security, I consider it my duty to protect Harry whenever he goes into town!"

"You wish!" Heero snapped. He grabbed Duo by the braid. "Come along. We're going to have a nice long chat about your duties around the castle."

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Duo cried as he was dragged away. "Let go! Man, I'm withholding! You hear me?"

"Like that's ever gonna happen," Heero growled under his breath.


	11. Holiday Cheer

Chapter 11: **Holiday Cheer**

Harry woke up to the feel of a rough tongue licking the side of his face. "Stop it, Crookshanks!" he muttered, trying to push the cat away.

"I'm not Crookshanks," Roku's voice answered.

Harry's eyes flew open. His bed suddenly seemed very small with a goodly portion of it filled up with tiger. He sat up quickly. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you to wake up. How do you feel?"

"Oh!" Harry gasped. He clutched his head in his hands and slumped back down, his face going green and sad at the same time. "I feel terrible! What did I drink? And did I really overhear something about my parents and Sirius Black?"

"Yes, you did." Roku nodded. "Papa Duo thought it would hurt less if you had a pounding headache to go with the sadness. Does it help?"

"No."

"I suspected as much. Some of Papa Duo's ideas are a little harebrained."

Harry squinted at him in surprise. "Can you talk about your father like that?"

"Papa Duo doesn't mind."

"Should you be being a tiger right now? What if someone sees you?"

"Everyone's gone. It's the holidays, remember? Only Ron and Hermione are downstairs." Roku hopped off the bed. "Come on, it's almost lunchtime. I'm hungry."

Harry rolled out of bed and put on a clean shirt before following Roku downstairs to the common room.

Ron's eyes went round at the sight of Roku. "Do you have to do that? It's creepy!"

"I think he's adorable!" Hermione squealed. She scurried across the room to stroke Roku's fur. Roku purred and swiped at her hand with his tongue. Hermione giggled delightedly.

"I say, Harry," Ron began, "about last night…"

"I don't want to talk about it," Harry said quickly. "Let's go eat. Hadn't you better change, Roku?"

Roku shimmered into human form. "Too bad everyone didn't leave," he said. "I'm getting almost no tiger-time and it makes my fur get all matted. And I want some raw meat."

"You would rather be a tiger than a person?!" Ron exclaimed, turning a little green at the mention of raw meat.

"I am a tiger," Roku said. "I'm shape-shifting when I'm a person."

Ron stared. "That's weird."

"I think it's brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed. "I've never met anyone who was really a talking animal before."

"Leave it to Hermione to be excited by something like that," Ron muttered.

"Anyway, Roku," Hermione continued, "you promised to show me how to use my storage space."

"I remember. Let's see," Roku tapped his lip. "First of all, you need to get a feel for it." He and Hermione walked ahead of the others as Roku explained. Hermione listened intently, her face rapt.

"This is so not good," Ron whispered to Harry. "She'll have a whole library stuffed into her wherever by dinnertime."

"But think how happy she'll be," Harry said, trying to sound cheerful.

"Humph!" Ron grunted.

They had not yet reached the front hall when Alexa and Jett came bounding down a staircase, trailed by an exhausted-looking Hadeya.

"It's almost Christmas!" Alexa shouted. "And Mommy and Daddy said they have presents for me, but they're hidden!" She skidded to a halt by grabbing Harry's hand, nearly yanking him off his feet. Jett completed the job by grabbing Harry around the waist to stop herself. All three of them went down in a heap.

"Ow!" Harry gasped.

"Sorry!" Jett giggled. She popped to her feet.

Harry got to his feet more slowly, inhibited as much as assisted by Alexa tugging on his arm.

"You shouldn't go drinking with Uncle Duo, Harry," Alexa advised. "He can drink gods under the table."

"Gods?!" Harry, Ron and Hermione exclaimed in unison.

Alexa nodded, despite the subtle shushing motions Hadeya was making. "Mommy said it didn't bother the Norse gods that much, but I remember it used to make the Greek gods really mad, especially Bacchus." Alexa giggled. "He would get all red in the face trying to match Uncle Duo goblet for goblet and then he would pass out."

"You… you met Greek and Norse gods?" Ron rasped faintly.

"Well, I don't remember the Norse gods that well because I was just a baby when were in Asgard, but Mount Olympus was lots of fun. That's where I learned how to dance. And I got to throw lightning bolts!"

"I want to throw lightning bolts, too," Jett pouted.

"I still have a few scraps of lightning in my storage space," Roku said. "We can go outside after lunch and throw them at dementors."

Jett clapped her hands. "Goody!"

"You have lightning bolts in your storage space?" Hermione asked, her shock turning to excitement in an instant. "How does that work?"

"They're sort of like rock in their dormant state. They don't turn to lightning until you throw them. It's something about flying through the air that makes them activate. It's pretty cool. Hephaestus showed me how he made them. It's part magic and part blacksmithing. Hephaestus is really strong and has huge shoulders."

"Hephaestus, God of the Forge?" Hermione exclaimed. "You talked to him?! Like a real person?!"

"All the gods are real people," Roku said. "Ask Hadeya. His mother is a god."

Ron, Hermione and Harry stopped dead in their tracks and stared at Hadeya.

Hadeya put his head in his hand. "You probably should not have mentioned that, Roku."

"Why not? I like Freya. And she's really pretty."

Hermione goggled. "Your mother is Freya, the Norse goddess of beauty and love?! But… but… I thought Mister Yuy was your father!"

"He is."

"But how could a mortal… I mean…" Hermione's face turned bright red.

"The gods have sex just like people do," Roku said matter-of-factly, unmindful of Hermione's flaming cheeks. "And Freya is the goddess of fertility, too, so she used to get upset that she didn't have any children of her own. But since Papa Heero is a mortal, Hadeya is only a demigod."

Ron blinked, wide-eyed. "Does that mean you have special powers, Hadeya? Can you fly?"

Hadeya shook his head. "I can only do a few things a normal person cannot," he said. "My main gift is being able to see and cross the Rainbow Bridge into Asgard. And I might be immortal," he added as an afterthought. "Although I will not know that for certain until I have not died."

"What?! Wait a minute!" Ron scratched his head in confusion. "You won't know that you'll live forever until you haven't died?! That doesn't make any sense at all!"

"Yes, it does," Alexa said. "If he dies of old age then he'll know he's not immortal."

"Of course," Hadeya continued thoughtfully, "I can be killed just like anyone else and if that happens we'll never know for certain if I would have lived forever."

Ron rubbed his temples. "I think we need to stop talking about this."

"I smell food!" Jett announced and she dashed ahead into the Great Hall.

After lunch, everyone went outside, despite the falling snow, to throw lightning bolts at the dementors. Harry especially found it quite satisfying when the brilliant flashes sent the dementors scurrying into the clouds in panic. But eventually it got too cold, so they decided to go visit Hagrid.

But when they arrived at the big man's hut, they found him blubbering mightily over the fact the Buckbeak's case had been referred to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures.

"Buckbeak hasn't got a chance now!" Hagrid howled, devastated by the turn of events. "I don' know what to do!"

"Can't Buckbeak just fly away?" Alexa asked innocently. She and Jett were staring up at the big hippogriff with wide eyes. Buckbeak paused in the middle of messily consuming some unidentifiable dead animal to incline its head politely.

"I can't let 'im go!" Hagrid moaned. "They might put me in Azkaban again!" He hung his head in his hands.

"Well," Hermione suggested, drawing herself up officiously, "we'll just have to make a case for Buckbeak, that's all! We'll go to the library and research old cases. I'm sure we can find something to prove Buckbeak's not at fault."

Hagrid brightened a little. "Do yeh think so?"

"I'm positive!" Hermione said. "Let's go. There's plenty of time before dinner."

They all went back to the library, but just Hermione, Ron and Harry did research. Alexa, Jett and Roku played hide and seek among the bookshelves, which Roku did in tiger form. Hadeya sat with Harry and the others. It was quiet, except for occasional whispers from Hermione or Ron or Harry when they found something that seemed like it might be useful, but then an explosion of growls, squeals and giggles broke the silence, immediately followed by someone making shushing sounds.

Hermione glanced toward the noise and then frowned at Hadeya. "Shouldn't you check on them?"

"The girls are safe with Roku," Hadeya said, "and I have been watching them all day. It is exhausting." He settled more comfortably in his chair. "I used to fight in battles all day with the heroes of Valhalla and it was not as tiring as playing with two little girls."

"The heroes of Valhalla?" Harry looked up from the heavy tome he was reading. "Does that all really exist?"

"Of course. I grew up in Valhalla." Hadeya leaned back and closed his eyes. "Although there really is not any reason for the heroes to train for battle anymore since Ragnarok already happened, but what else are a bunch of warriors going to do to entertain themselves? You can only spend so much time eating, drinking and screwing. Besides, I think some of them enjoy dying and being resurrected again."

Hermione blinked. "Ragnarok already happened? But… I thought the world was supposed to be destroyed by Ragnarok."

"It was destroyed." Hadeya yawned. "But Roku put it back together. That would have been something to see," he added sleepily.

The three young people stared at the half-asleep demigod.

"Wait just a minute!" Ron demanded. "Roku put the world back together?" He enunciated each word slowly and carefully.

"It was a really long time ago," Hadeya said without opening his eyes. "I doubt there is any evidence of the destruction and reassembly left." He folded his hands over his tummy. "I have been meaning to track down Jormangand to ask him to tell me about it since he was inside the Earth when it broke apart, but I have not been able to find his head. I have only found loops of his body."

"Who's Jormangand?" Harry asked curiously.

"The Midgard Serpent."

"The Midgard Serpent is a myth!" Hermione exclaimed in a squeaky voice.

"Anything that existed or happened a very long time ago tends to become a myth," Hadeya said. He yawned again. "Actually, there is a piece of his body lying close to the surface not too far from here. I can show it to you if you like."

Hermione's eyes went round. "Yes! Please!"

Ron leaned over and tapped the book lying open in front of Hermione. "Shall we attend to Buckbeak first, Miss Needs-To-Know-And-See-Everything?"

Hermione blinked at him. "Yes… of course…" She pulled the book toward her and started reading again.

A soft snore drifted from Hadeya, punctuated by another burst of giggles and growls from somewhere in the depths of the library.

After several hours, Harry pushed away the book he was reading and stuck his fingers under his glasses to rub his eyes. "I'm exhausted and it's almost time for dinner. Let's take a break."

"That sounds like a good idea," Ron agreed.

"Let's take these books back to the Gryffindor common room first," Hermione suggested. "Then we can keep reading after dinner."

As if summoned, Roku, Alexa and Jett appeared to help carry books and then they all went down to the Great Hall for dinner.

The next morning after breakfast, Harry, Hermione and Ron sat in the Gryffindor common room reading, hoping to find something to help Hagrid with Buckbeak's case. When they emerged through the portrait hole at lunchtime, they found Roku, Alexa and Jett sitting just outside playing jacks. Hadeya was sitting on the stairs nearby.

"Why didn't you come in?" Harry asked.

"We didn't want to disturb you," Roku said. "But the girls wanted to eat lunch with you, so we waited."

Alexa and Jett jumped to their feet and grabbed Harry's hands. "Come on! We're starving! Let's go! Let's go!" They dragged the hapless young wizard toward the stairs.

"Why is Harry always the popular one?" Ron muttered under his breath.

Hardly anyone was in the Great Hall for lunch that day. None of the Gundam pilots showed up and only a few of the remaining professors were there. They had just finished eating when Wu-Fei came in with the Chutes and Ladders game balanced on his head and an irritated look on his face.

"I thought you children might like something to do to entertain yourselves," Wu-Fei said.

Roku smirked. "Everyone's being naughty again? Didn't they just do that this morning?"

Wu-Fei rolled his eyes. "For hours! You'd think they weren't just doing the same thing last night as well. Sheesh!"

"They're gonna get raw," Roku snickered.

"Which is why I elected to make my escape," Wu-Fei said. He set the game down on the Gryffindor table where they were sitting. "Didn't there used to be more playing pieces in this game, Roku?"

Roku looked inside the game. "Yeah. Some of them escaped again. They like to climb so they keep getting out. I'll make some more." He held his hand over the corner of the board where the playing pieces were stored and four more little people dropped out of his palm one after the other. A woman in an evening gown, a gentleman in a top hat and tails, a girl in a cheerleader's uniform and a man in wizard's robes who looked suspiciously like Severus Snape joined the other four pieces, a girl, a boy and two men, who had been sitting in the corner. The newcomers shook hands with the previous residents and then they all looked up expectantly.

"How did you do that?" Harry demanded eagerly. He turned Roku's hand over and stared at his palm.

Roku scratched his nose with his other hand. "It's kind of hard to explain."

"You said they weren't real people," Harry said, "so why would they leave the playing board?"

"They get curious," Roku shrugged.

Hermione leaned over to stare at the pieces. "They look just like tiny people. What do you mean they're not real?"

"They're sort of like solid holograms," Roku said, "so they don't eat or breathe or excrete, but they can move around independently. And they love to climb. The higher they can get the happier they are."

"But what happens if they leave the board?"

"Well…" Roku paused and looked a little sheepish. "They sort of wander around."

Wu-Fei put his hands on his hips. "Exactly how many have escaped?" he asked sternly.

"Um…" said Roku, "well… I started with six and then I made two more so there was eight, but then five of them disappeared so I made five more and then two more got out so I replaced them, and then all eight went missing so I made eight more and now I had to add four more to bring it back up to eight. So that makes nineteen."

Wu-Fei regarded Roku with a stern expression. "So there are nineteen tiny holographic people roaming the halls of Hogwarts at this moment?"

"Possibly. Probably. Ok, yeah."

"And you didn't think it was worth mentioning to anyone."

"They won't cause any harm. They'll just climb stuff."

"And you don't think seeing tiny little people climbing the tapestries will upset anyone?"

"Nobody's seen one yet."

Wu-Fei rubbed his eyes. "How long will these things last?"

"I don't know. I can make them disappear, but I have to touch them to do that."

"But you don't know where they are."

"Jett could probably find them. She's good at finding stuff."

Jett nodded vigorously. She picked up the man in evening dress and placed him on her palm. He took off his hat and made a sweeping bow. She giggled and bowed back, carefully keeping her palm level. "Let's play! I want to use this piece."

Alexa picked up the woman in the evening gown.

Roku picked up the man in wizard's robes.

"That looks like Snape," Harry said.

Roku nodded. "I can make them faster if I model them on people I've seen. There are enough pieces for everyone to play." He grinned at Wu-Fei. "You should play, too, Papa Wu-Fei."

Wu-Fei sighed. "Oh, very well." He leaned over the board and selected one of the two remaining adult pieces. Ron, Harry and Hermione took the others and everyone moved their pieces to the starting square.

"Jett's the youngest," Harry said with a fond smile. "I think she should go first."

Jett grinned and picked up the dice.

The eight of them were still playing when dinner time rolled around and the game was moved down the table to make room for the food.

"I think we should cover that," Ron whispered when Snape swept into the hall. "I'm not sure what would upset him more: a three-dimensional playing board with self-moving pieces or the fact that one of the pieces looks like him."

"Good idea," Harry agreed.

Roku immediately produced a blanket from his storage space and draped it over the playing board to hide it.

"Hey Roku," Alexa asked suddenly, "did Mommy give you my presents to hide from me?"

Roku blinked at her innocently.

She glared suspiciously. "He did, didn't he?"

"Not saying."

"You do have them."

"And you'll get them on Christmas morning."

"Aw man!"

But fortunately for everyone, they did not have that long to wait. Christmas finally arrived and Jett and Alexa exploded into their common room excitedly while it was still dark outside. At the start of the holidays, Quatre had put a small but attractive Christmas tree in front of the windows, lighted with little flickering lights in several different colors that glowed all day and night without generating heat. On Christmas morning, the area under and around the tree was filled with presents and one sleeping tiger.

Roku blinked sleepily at the two girls. "You couldn't wait for the sun?"

"It's Christmas!" they cried in unison.

"Oh, all right." Roku pushed to his feet and stretched, revealing his long and wicked-looking front claws. "You should at least wait until our parents are here."

"We're here," Quatre muttered irritably as he entered the room rubbing his eyes. Trowa trailed after him looking not awake at all. "I don't know how you expected anyone to sleep through that." He flopped into a chair and glared pointedly at Jett.

Jett ducked her head sheepishly.

The others came in from their rooms looking no more awake than Quatre and Trowa, except for Hadeya who looked fully rested.

"You wouldn't be so sleepy if you hadn't stayed up all night having sex!" Alexa scolded.

"Hey, some of us like to get our presents on Christmas Eve," Duo grumbled. He looked like he had not slept at all. Heero's eyes were bloodshot and Wu-Fei was limping. He sat down very gingerly.

"Some of us know how to pace ourselves," Zechs said archly. He and Treize did not look completely exhausted. He smiled fondly at the girls. "Go ahead and open your presents."

"Yay!" Alexa and Jett dove on the pile.

Upstairs in Gryffindor tower, Harry was unwrapping the best present ever: a brand new, shiny, magnificent Firebolt broomstick; the finest broomstick made anywhere. He and Ron were so enthralled by this fantastic present that they refused to notice the worried expression on Hermione's face. They might even have skipped Christmas dinner that afternoon, except that the smells of delicious food that had been filling the castle for days could not be resisted. So they went down to dinner and refused to be daunted by Madame Trelawney's dire predictions of imminent death for the first person to leave their unluckily-numbered table of thirteen people.

At a second table set up for the Gundam pilots and their children, Alexa and Jett were trying to stuff vast quantities of food down their throats as fast as possible so they could return to their presents.

Watching them, Treize shook his head in amazement. "How can they eat that fast and not choke?"

"I don't think they need to breathe when they're eating," Trowa speculated.

"Well, it's not particularly ladylike," Zechs said mournfully.

"But Alexa does manage to look graceful while she eats an entire mince tart in one bite," Treize said helpfully.

Zechs sighed. "Is it really one bite when she leaves a quarter of it mashed on her cheeks?"

After dinner, while Ron and Harry raced back upstairs to look at his new broomstick, Hermione hung behind.

"Professor McGonagall," Hermione said hesitantly. "I think there's something you should know."

"What is it, Miss Granger?"

Hermione scuffed a toe, looking unhappy. "Harry received a new Firebolt broomstick as a present, but there was no name or card with the package. He doesn't know who it came from."

McGonagall frowned. "I see. I think I'd better have a look at that."

Quatre was standing nearby and spoke up. "Do you mind if I look at it, too? I haven't seen one of these broomsticks close up yet."

"Of course not, come along."

So Quatre went with Professor McGonagall and Hermione to the Gryffindor tower. Having nothing better to do, Duo and Heero tagged along behind.

When they entered through the portrait hole, McGonagall immediately went up to Harry. "So, this is the new broomstick? I think we'd better have a look at it before you try to fly it, Mr. Potter."

"What?!" Stunned, Harry turned furious eyes on Hermione. Hermione ducked behind Heero.

Quatre studied the broomstick curiously. "Are you concerned there might be a hex on it, Professor?"

"That is exactly what I am concerned about."

"Can your knife tell if there are any bad spells on Harry's broom, Duo?" Quatre asked speculatively.

"I don't know. I'll check." Duo pulled the knife from its sheath at his waist. "Hey, knife, what about it? Are there any spells on that broom?"

_It's a flying broomstick. Of course there's a spell on it._

Duo blinked. The knife's response sounded, well, petulant. "Uh, yeah, but…"

_You bring me to a place that's stuffed foundation to rafters with magical items and you want to know if a FLYING BROOMSTICK is magical. You should give me back to the dragon._

Duo blinked again. "Um, I don't think the knife is going to be any help." He put it back in its sheath.

"Oh, well," Quatre said. "I guess the professors will have to check it then."

McGonagall took the broom and marched out, leaving an incredulous and angry Harry behind. He and Ron both rounded on Hermione.

"Why did you have to tell her?" Harry shouted. "I need a new broomstick for Quidditch!"

Hermione blinked unhappily and Quatre put an arm around her. "Now, don't be so upset, Harry. If you don't get it back, I'm sure I can make one just like it for you, now that I've seen it."

Harry stared. "Really?"

Quatre nodded. "And if not, I'm sure Roku can. But I imagine you'd much rather have that one back. So I'll see if I can't hurry the professors along for you, ok?"

"Ok, thanks." Harry sighed mournfully. "But it's still depressing."

"I know what will cheer you up," Duo volunteered. "The kids are due for a bath this evening and it's my turn to help. You can help me bathe them. A few rounds of Mobile Suit Attack will take your mind right off that broomstick."

Harry went pale.

"See? It's working already!"


	12. Post Holiday Blues

_This chapter's kind of weird. It was originally supposed to be about other stuff but I wandered off on this weird tangent and never quite made it back to the story. I promise to try harder to stay on topic next time._

-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 12: **Post Holiday Blues**

Heero stood by the main entrance watching the students returning to Hogwarts from the Christmas break. His scowl of disapproval was only slightly less obvious than Filch's.

"Look at 'em," Filch muttered. "All smiling and cheerful. A few hours in the dungeons would grind that right out of 'em."

"I suspect returning to school is insufficient grounds for incarceration," Heero remarked.

"Too bad." Filch's scowl turned a little worried. "Have yeh seen Mrs. Norris? I've not seen her since yesterday morning."

"No, I haven't, but I'll keep an eye out."

"Thanks." Filch shuffled off and Heero continued to watch the students.

Draco came through the door flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. "What a crush!" he complained in annoyance. Then his eyes fell on Heero. "Are you lot still here?" he exclaimed loftily. "I shall have to speak to my father about this. Muggles should not be allowed at Hogwarts. It's bad enough they let Muggle-born wizards and witches in."

"Noisy brat," Heero snorted. "Does talking like that make you feel taller? Or do you need another lesson from my four-year-old daughter on how to be a man?"

Several nearby students snickered and Draco flushed. "Just shut up, you!" He fumbled under his robes for his wand but before he could produce it, Heero grabbed the front of his robes and picked him up with one hand. Draco's feet waved wildly as he dangled above the floor.

"You need to learn to address your elders with respect, little man," Heero growled. "You better have something more than these two buffoons to back you up if you want to start talking smack with me." He threw a menacing glare at Goyle and Crabbe and the two plump boys backed away nervously.

Draco struggled futilely to escape Heero's grasp. "Let go!" he cried, his voice squeaking a little. "I'll tell my father!"

"Tell him what?" Heero sneered. "That you're a whiny little toad that no one respects? I imagine he already knows."

Draco's face got even redder. "Put me down!" he shouted.

"Heero, quit tormenting the students," Zechs said calmly.

Heero immediately released Draco and the unprepared young wizard promptly fell on his ass. "I'm only tormenting this one," Heero said, "and he had it coming. He's annoying."

"I know he's annoying," Zechs agreed, "but you still should not be tormenting him. Off you go, little boy," Zechs said to Draco with a pleasant smile, "and try not to irritate anyone else."

Draco scrambled to his feet flushed with outrage and rushed off toward the dungeon stairs. Crabbe and Goyle scurried after him, giving Heero and Zechs a wide berth.

"The students look like they had a pleasant vacation," Zechs continued conversationally. He favored two passing fifth year Hufflepuff girls with his most beautiful smile and they went pale.

"You see?!" one of the girls squealed as they scurried away. "I told you we should have stayed here for the holidays. We could have had dinner with him!"

The other girl managed nothing more than a hasty nod, staring back over her shoulder at Zechs with an infatuated smile.

Heero crossed his arms. "If I don't get to torment students, you can't flirt with them either."

"All I did was smile," Zechs said innocently and he turned his stunning smile on a trio of Ravenclaw girls. The one in the middle fainted and had to be caught by her companions. "Where's the harm in that?"

Heero rolled his eyes.

The Great Hall buzzed with conversation that night over dinner as the students regaled each other with stories about their holidays. There were a few people, though, who were less than happy.

"I can't believe Professor Chang gave us homework over the break!" Evie, a seventh year Gryffindor moaned.

"I know!" Susie, another seventh year, responded gloomily. "Did you finish it?"

"Are you kidding? I would have had to live in the library to look up all the stuff he wanted! I don't know why he said we couldn't use the Internet. That's what it's for!"

"He said the Internet makes one lazy," Percy interrupted from above their heads, although his tone made it sound as if he was only vaguely sure of what the Internet might be. ("Oh, it's a Muggle invention!" his father had told him with great enthusiasm when he asked. "Very clever indeed! Maybe we should get one!") Percy lifted his chin. "I finished the assignment in only four days and was therefore free to enjoy the rest of my holiday."

"Oh, shut up, Percy!" Evie grumbled under her breath. She looked down the table at Roku. "Maybe we could ask him for help. He said he was in college."

"We could ask Hadeya!" Susie suggested eagerly. She eyed the handsome young man with a dreamy expression. "He must be in college, too."

"But if we ask him, Professor Chang will find out we didn't finish," Evie pointed out. "Let's ask Roku."

"Ok."

So after dinner, the two girls cornered Roku and grilled him about their Non-Magic Studies homework assignment. But as the three of them huddled together at one end of the Gryffindor table, they drew the attention of other Non-Magic Studies students and soon about a dozen students from various houses were clustered around Roku, pelting him with questions and furiously taking notes.

It was rather late when the impromptu study session broke up and the students filed out into the deserted front hall, but Roku paused as soon as he got outside and stared toward the shadows on the far side.

After a moment, Draco Malfoy stepped out of the shadows with a frown. "What are you staring at?" he sneered, but he also sounded faintly surprised.

"I was just wondering why you were standing there. Harry left a long time ago."

Draco started. "What do you mean by that?"

"I assumed you were waiting to see him. I always smell you hovering around watching Harry."

"What?!" Draco's face paled and then flushed scarlet. "I do not! You're the one always hanging around him!"

"But we're friends, so that's to be expected. But you're always acting like you don't like him, but you're always watching him." Roku grinned. "It's ok, you know. It's perfectly normal for guys to like other guys."

Draco's mouth fell open. "I… do not… like him!" he stammered. "You just… you take that back!" Draco balled his hands into fists and advanced on Roku threateningly.

Roku tipped his head to one side. "Aren't you going to use your wand?"

"What?" Draco faltered to a stop.

"Ron said you're always threatening to cast spells on people. Why don't you cast a spell?"

"If that's what you want!" Draco cried. He yanked his wand out from under his robe and pointed it shakily at Roku with a shout. A blast of light and wind shot from the end of his wand.

Roku waved a hand casually in front of his face and brushed the spell away. "That was pretty good." He pulled out his own wand. "Tell me what you think of this. I'm just learning how to use my wand." He pointed it at Draco and spoke the same word that Draco had used. Draco was slammed by the spell and flew backward, skidding across the floor until he bumped into the wall. "Oops!" Roku said. He scurried over to Draco. "Are you all right? I didn't mean to hit you that hard. These wands really amplify things."

Draco stared up at him, his eyes out of focus and a little crossed.

"Oh, dear!" Roku murmured. He squatted down and put a hand on Draco's forehead.

"Roku, what are you doing?" Harry called as he trotted into the hall. "I've been looking for you." He stopped when he reached Roku's side and his eyebrows shot up. "What's wrong with Malfoy?"

"Um, well," Roku grinned sheepishly. "I was showing him that I could do the same spell he could and sort of, well, gave him a mild concussion. But I'm fixing it!"

Draco's eyes slowly uncrossed and he sat up groggily, pushing Roku's hand away unsteadily. "What happened?"

"I'm sorry," Roku apologized. "I sort of injured you. How do you feel now?"

"My head is killing me!" Draco cradled his head in his hand and squinted around him. "Wasn't I holding my wand?"

"Oh, it's right here." Roku held out his hand and Draco's wand, which had been flung some distance away by Roku's attack, flew into his hand. He held the wand out to Draco.

Draco grabbed it and shoved it back into his robes. Then he noticed Harry. His cheeks flushed and he scrambled to his feet. "What the hell are you doing here? Come to laugh at me?"

"No!" Harry snapped. "I wasn't looking for you at all! It was just my bad luck. Come on, Roku, we need to get back to our common room before lights out."

"We should make sure Draco gets back to his common room ok first," Roku said. "Concussions are tricky and he might still faint even though I fixed it."

"I'm not going to faint!" Draco exclaimed and then all of the color drained from his face and he sagged against the wall.

"You probably shouldn't shout," Roku said. "You need to go to bed. I think a good night's sleep will clear away the residual affects." He put a shoulder under Draco's arm and grabbed him around the waist. "Come on, Harry, help me."

"Ugh!" Harry groaned, but he put his shoulder under Draco's other arm and the two of them half-carried Draco down the stairs to his hidden common room door.

Draco's eyes widened. "How do you know where the entrance is?!" he demanded. "Only Slytherins should know that!"

"Never mind!" Harry snapped. "Just open it! We'll close our eyes."

Draco stared at them suspiciously for a moment and then opened the hidden door.

"Draco!" a third year Slytherin girl immediately cried. "What have they done to you?"

"He tripped on the stairs," Roku immediately lied. "He should lie down."

Angrily, Draco jerked himself free of the two Gryffindors but he did not dispute Roku's claim. He leaned heavily on the girl and let her help him away as the door slammed shut in Harry and Roku's faces.

"Well, that was irritating," Harry said. "Let's get going. I don't want to get in trouble for being out after hours. I might never get my broom back, then."

The two of them hurried toward Gryffindor tower.

"You shouldn't be so mean to Draco," Roku said. "He likes you."

"No, he doesn't," Harry said. "He thinks I'm full of myself because of the scar on my forehead."

"Maybe so, but that doesn't mean he doesn't like you." Roku squinted at him. "You know what I mean when I say 'like', right?"

Harry stopped in his tracks. "Not that again! You mentioned something like that before, but Malfoy's not like that!"

Roku stopped too. "How would you know? You would know if you're like that, but you won't know about him for sure unless he tries to kiss you."

"K… Kiss me?" Harry stammered. "He wouldn't dare!' He swallowed. "I mean, he wouldn't want to!"

Roku leaned forward and lifted his eyebrows. "But he smells like he wants to."

"Smells like…? That's… that's…" Harry blinked several times, his round glasses making his wide-open eyes look owlish. "That's ridiculous!" he finished faintly. He pushed past Roku and broke into a run, dashing all the way back to the portrait hole without stopping.

"Halt there, miscreant!" Sir Cadogan shouted. "State the password or prepare to be run through."

Harry groaned. "Oh, just open the door!"

"Not without the pass…" Sir Cadogan began and then stopped with his mouth hanging open. "What devilry is this?!" he exclaimed in consternation.

Harry turned to look at what Sir Cadogan was staring at and his eyes opened wide.

Roku just smiled. "Oh. Hi, Mrs. Norris. I see you found some of them."

Approaching them up the hallway came Mrs. Norris, walking with a slow and stately gait. Straddling her back were three tiny people, clutching bunches of her fur to keep themselves in place. The little people waved at Roku as they passed and Mrs. Norris continued her stately trek, heading down the stairs with her little riders leaning back to counterbalance the slope of her back.

"Aren't… aren't you going to catch them?" Harry asked hoarsely.

"Why?" Roku shrugged. "They're having fun. And anyway, they're harmless. They must be or Mrs. Norris wouldn't be playing with them."

Harry turned back to the portrait. "Odds bodkins," he muttered.

Sir Cadogan smiled broadly and the portrait swung open. Harry climbed through the portrait hole, almost tripping on the ledge. Roku stepped through after him.

"Oh, you found him," Ron said.

"Yeah."

Ron frowned in puzzlement at Harry's pale face. "What were you doing?" he said to Roku.

"Nothing. Anyway, I'm going back out to say good night to my parents. I'll be back in a minute." Roku slipped back out through the portrait hole.

"What's wrong with you, Harry?" Ron peered more closely at his face. "I'd say you looked like you'd seen a ghost, except we're always seeing ghosts here."

"It's nothing," Harry muttered. "I'm going to bed." He slumped off up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.

The students settled quickly back into their routine. Or at least they would have except that at the first Potions class after the holidays, Heero, Duo and Wu-Fei showed up and lined up along the wall by the door, watching expectantly as the third-years uncovered their steeping truth serum potions. Professor Snape studiously refused to acknowledge their presence as he lectured the class.

"Students, if you have not made a complete mess of the potion, you should find a thick, luminescent green sludge in the bottom of your cauldron. Raise your hand if you do not." Snape glared around the room as a few hands rose shakily. He stalked over to stare with a glower into the cauldrons of those unfortunate students. "You failed to mince your snakeskin properly, Mister Jones," he snapped at one poor Hufflepuff boy. "What frog organ did you put in that, Miss Wiley?" he sneered at a cowering Ravenclaw girl. "You obviously did not use the spleen." After making snide comments to a few more students, he strode back to the front of the class and turned with a sweep to face them. "Very well. For those of you who did not just fail the assignment, we will test your potion to see if you have earned a passing grade."

The students whose cauldrons had not passed muster groaned.

Snape looked at the three Gundam pilots for the first time. "You will find it interesting to know, students, that this particular potion works particularly well on Muggles." Every head in the room turned to stare at the three young men. "However, today you will test the potion with your partner." His lip curled. "But to avoid embarrassment, you will only ask each other the following question: what is your least favorite class."

Draco immediately stuck up his hand. "But how will we know if the other person is telling the truth?"

Snape glared at him. "I think it should be obvious, Mister Malfoy. Please begin. Swallow no more than one half spoonful."

There was an immediate explosion of talk as each pair of students debated who would take the potion.

Neville leaned toward Roku with a frightened look. "Will you please take the potion, Roku? I don't want to say what my least favorite class is in here!" He threw a frightened glance at Snape.

"Ok." Roku dipped a bit of sludge out of the cauldron and put it in his mouth. "Hmm. Interesting. It sort of tastes like stagnant riverbank mud."

Neville stared. "You've tasted stagnant riverbank mud?"

Roku blinked. "Yes, Neville, I have. When we were on the quest for the Holy Grail, I used to wander around while the knights were riding to the next challenge and I especially liked romping through streams."

Neville's eyes went round.

Duo pursed his lips. "Perhaps we should have suggested that Roku not take the truth serum."

"Why?" Heero muttered. "He's always telling the truth at the most inconvenient moments."

"Shouldn't you ask me the question, Neville?" Roku hinted

"Oh, right!" Neville shook himself. "What is your least favorite class?"

"I don't have a least favorite," Roku answered. "I like all my classes. I've learned so many interesting things."

Roku, not surprisingly, was the only person who answered that way.

"Divination!" Hermione snapped immediately.

"Potions!" Ron declared loudly.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Draco stated firmly.

And so it went, with Potions class being far and away the winner in terms of being the most hated class.

Snape's thin lips lifted into what might possibly have been an amused smile. "Well, it seems as if everyone has created a successful truth serum."

"Look at him!" Ron muttered. "He's happy his is the most hated class!"

"For those of you who failed to create a successful potion," Snape continued, "you will write an entire scroll explaining why knowledge of Potions is important."

"A whole scroll?!" a boy's voice cried out in dismay.

"Or would you prefer losing points?"

Dead silence was the only response.

Snape's gaze returned to the Gundam pilots. "Perhaps one or two of our guests might be interested in trying the truth serum?"

Duo started to step forward but Heero immediately stuck out an arm and blocked him. "Sure, I'll try it. But what question did you want to ask?" He smirked at Snape.

"Have you something to hide?" Snape growled back.

Heero grinned humorlessly and stalked over to Roku's cauldron. Roku grinned as he handed Heero a small spoonful of sludge.

Heero made a face. "That's disgusting."

"I kind of liked it."

"You think raw deer innards are a yummy snack."

"They are."

Neville listened to this exchange with eyes getting rounder and rounder.

Heero turned to Snape with his arms crossed.

"Where were you born?" Snape immediately demanded.

"I don't know," Heero responded.

"Who are your parents?"

"I don't know."

"How old are you?"

"I don't know."

Snape's eyes narrowed. "That potion must not be working."

"It's working," Duo laughed. "He doesn't know the answer to any of those questions, but the fact that he told you proves the potion is working." He dashed forward and grabbed Heero by the arm. "Now if you'll excuse us, I have a few questions of my own I want to ask. How long until it wears off?"

"Perhaps fifteen minutes," Snape answered in a puzzled tone.

"If you ask me anything embarrassing," Heero snarled as Duo dragged him out the door, "I'll pull your braid out by the roots."

Wu-Fei pushed away from the wall. "I suppose I'd better go make sure they don't kill each other." He sauntered out.

Roku raised his hand. "Professor Snape, is there a potion that will make someone always tell lies, even if he wants to tell the truth?"

"There is, but it is too complicated for a third year class to attempt."

"Oh," Roku said, disappointed.

"Well, then, for the remainder of the class period, all students will silently read pages one hundred thirty-seven to one hundred sixty-one, which should be time enough for the serum to wear off. There will be no speaking and no asking of questions during this time. Begin!"

The class fell silent, except for the rustling of pages.

Snape stopped them shortly before the end of class and made them dump out the contents of their cauldrons and wash them thoroughly. He glowered at the class. "If I hear any rumors of someone being given truth serum outside of class, demerits and detentions will be assigned to all suspected perpetrators."

As they filed out of the room, Ron scowled. "You notice how he said _suspected_ perpetrators? He doesn't even have to prove you did anything! I'll bet you a Galleon that Malfoy will pretend he's been given truth serum and blame us."

"He can try," Harry growled, "but I know something that will shut him up quick."

"What?"

"I'd rather not say. Let's hurry. I don't want to be late for lunch."

Wu-Fei was a little late for his Non-Magic Studies class after lunch and he arrived out of breath. "Sorry I'm late, class," he apologized as he hurried in.

Hadeya, standing at the front of the room surrounded by adoring females and one or two bolder males, looked relieved. "What kept you, Uncle Wu-Fei?"

Wu-Fei flushed. "Nothing! I was just… mediating an argument between Heero and Duo." He clapped his hand. "Everyone sit down, please! Let's get started. Why don't we begin by collecting the homework? How did everyone do?"

"Just fine, Professor!" Evie answered brightly. She produced a thick roll of parchment. "I believe I have everything."

"Me, too!" said Susie, producing a similar scroll.

Percy frowned. "But you said you hadn't finished it!"

"I _said_," Evie exclaimed with a sharp look, "that I wasn't quite finished. I meant that I was still writing it up neatly." She beamed at Wu-Fei. Susie nodded quickly in agreement.

Percy's frown deepened. "Well, I finished mine over the break, as we were instructed, including writing it up neatly."

Penny gave him a dark look. "Why didn't you tell me? We could have worked on it together. I wasn't able to finish it."

Percy flushed. "Oh, uh, well, my family was very busy over the break…"

"But you found time to finish the homework and you didn't even ask me once if I wanted to study together!" She lifted her chin and pointedly turned away from him. "Now I see how much you care about me."

"Penny!" Percy exclaimed, stricken.

Penny raised her hand. "Professor Chang, I admit I didn't complete the assignment. Would it be possible for Mister Hadeya to help me? I don't expect credit, I just want to learn." She batted her eyes innocently.

Hadeya paled.

"That will be fine, Miss Clearwater. Education is its own reward."

Penny beamed triumphantly as the other girls swore under their breath and muttered that they wished they had thought of that. Percy looked as though he had been stabbed through the heart.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Uncle?" Hadeya said quickly. "My education is not as extensive as Roku's."

"It will be fine," Wu-Fei said. "There was nothing in the homework that you wouldn't know. Now," he said, turning to the chalkboard, "it's time we covered physics. The principles of physics govern the physical world in the absence of magic, so it's important that you understand them. Let's go over some basic physical laws."

By the end of class, everyone but Penny had gone glassy-eyed. Penny, on the other hand, bounded out of her seat and dashed over to Hadeya the instant class was dismissed.

"Mister Hadeya," she gushed, "when would be a good time to meet? After dinner tonight? We could go to the library. I know a really quiet spot where we could talk undisturbed."

"Uh, that sounds fine."

"Great! See you then!" Penny bounced out of the room without even a glance at Percy.

Percy slumped out the door with a cloud of gloom hanging over him.

"He must be in love," Evie snickered, "she sure took the wind out of his sails!"

"I'll say," Susie agreed, "but I sure wish I'd thought of that trick about the homework."

Evie sighed. "Me, too."

When the students were gone, Wu-Fei clapped the mournful-looking Hadeya on the back. "Look at it this way, Hadeya. She's probably just trying to make Percy jealous, so I don't think she expects you to have sex with her."

Hadeya's eyes went round. "Sex?!"

"She's a healthy-looking girl, though."

"You are not serious, I hope."

Wu-Fei grinned. "Relax, Hadeya. I would never advocate bedding students. Although some of the seventh-years are adults already."

"I think I should go see if Treize needs any help with anything." Hadeya hurried out.

Wu-Fei reached over his shoulder and began scratching absently. Then he snatched his hand away with a scowl. "I do not itch!" he declared to the empty room.


	13. Muggles At Hogwarts

Chapter 13: **Muggles at Hogwarts**

"Why do you suppose Malfoy skipped fencing club?" Ron asked Harry quietly as they helped Roku put away the equipment after class one blustery day in early February.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he was afraid Alexa or Jett would be here."

Ron snickered. "That's pretty funny. I'll have to spread that rumor."

Just then a tall man with flowing white hair, a long cape and an arrogant manner stalked into the room, a silver-headed walking stick clasped in one hand.

"Let's get out of here!" Harry whispered quickly. "That's Lucius Malfoy." He started to scurry for the door, but Ron caught his arm.

"Wait!" Ron whispered. "I want to see this!" He, Harry and Roku went out the door and immediately peeked back around the frame, their three heads all lined up with Ron on the bottom, Roku in the middle and Harry on top.

Lucius swept into the center of the room as though the three boys had never existed and jammed his walking stick down on the floor, striking an imperious pose. "So this is the place," he sniffed, looking around as though he had just walked into a particularly unclean horse stall.

Treize regarded him in much the same way one might regard a particularly interesting insect. "May I help you?"

"Perhaps." Lucius released his walking stick and it remained where it was, standing upright. "My son Draco informed me that that fool Dumbledore is allowing Muggles to live at Hogwarts." He calmly removed his gloves and stuffed them into a pocket. "I have come to see for myself if such a disgraceful situation has indeed been allowed to arise."

Treize glanced at Zechs, who was sitting on one of the benches with his legs crossed. Zechs folded his arms across his chest and lifted an eyebrow. Treize returned his gaze to Lucius. "I take it you find non-magic people offensive."

"Offensive doesn't begin to describe it," Lucius snarled, his lip curling. "Only persons of pure wizarding blood should be allowed within these walls. Persons of muggle-descent have no business here." His sneer deepened. "Persons with no wizarding powers whatsoever have no reason to exist at all."

Treize let his right hand fall casually onto the hilt of his sword. "I see. So you consider yourself a gentleman of the first order."

Lucius lifted his chin. "Of course."

"Well," Treize said, "my family is descended from some of the oldest stock in Europe. I can trace my lineage back nineteen hundred years. How old is your family?"

Color flooded Lucius' face as he fumbled for words. "My family is… very old!" he exclaimed finally. "And we have always been one of the most powerful wizarding families!"

"That's nice," Treize said. "My family has ruled countries."

Lucius' mouth worked silently and his hand started to slide under his cloak.

Treize nodded at the free-standing walking stick. "I see you have a sword there." Lucius started, apparently surprised that Treize had recognized the hidden weapon. "Is it a decorative weapon or do you know how to use it?"

Lucius' face got even redder. "Of course I know how to use it!" he snapped.

"Ah," Treize said. "I wondered, you see, because your son is so inept. I would not have thought a father with any kind of skill would have allowed his son to reach his age without having any competence with a gentleman's weapon. My daughter is only seven or so and she bested him easily."

"What?!"

"Oh, yes," Treize nodded. "She disarmed him in five seconds." He leaned forward and lowered his voice confidentially. "It was a little embarrassing."

"Argh!" Lucius shouted. He grabbed the handle of the walking stick and twisted it. There was a soft click and the handle slid free, revealing a slender, gleaming sword. With a sweep of his other hand, he tossed his cape free, sending it in a dramatic swirl across the floor. Then he dropped into a fighting stance, his sword pointed at Treize. "I will endure no more insults to my family from someone like you!" he exclaimed. "En garde!"

In the doorway, Roku chuckled. "This should be fun."

Lucius charged forward, making three quick, respectable cuts. Treize drew his sword and countered in his usual graceful way, making it look effortless. Lucius was not unskilled, but he was clearly not in Treize's league. He was working much harder in his attacks then Treize was working on the defense and he was soon panting and sweating, while Treize looked cool and relaxed.

From his seat on the bench, Zechs clucked. "Treize, it will be time for dinner in an hour. How long do you plan to play with him?"

"You're just jealous because he insulted me first."

"You always take comments about your lineage so personally."

"What is a man without his ancestry?"

"Common," Zechs chuckled.

"Precisely."

"Do not belittle me!" Lucius howled. "Pay attention to me when we're fighting!"

"How could I possibly forget you?" Treize said with a grin. "You've been buzzing around me like a mosquito for ten minutes now."

"A… a… mosquito?!" Lucius' outrage did not allow him to manage any more. Raising his sword, he lunged at Treize, intending to skewer him. Treize sidestepped the lunge, grabbed Lucius' fist and yanked on it. The additional momentum sent Lucius flying and he ended up sprawled on his face with his butt sticking up in the air.

"If you ask me," Zechs said as he stood up, "Alexa could beat the father, too. That was not very impressive."

"Too much reliance on magic instead of the gentlemanly arts," Treize agreed. He scooped up Lucius' cloak and shook it. Lucius' wand clattered onto the floor. "I'll just leave this with Dumbledore," he said. He picked up the wand and he and Zechs started for the door.

"You boys better be off," Zechs said quietly when he saw the three youths watching from the doorway with round eyes. "You don't want him to turn his anger on you."

"Yes, sir!" Harry said. He grabbed Ron and Roku each by an arm and rushed them off down the hall.

"I won't forget this!" Lucius shouted from his knees. His face was beet red. "You will both pay for this!"

Treize's only reply was to tuck Lucius' wand inside his jacket as he walked out the door.

A short way down the hall and around the corner, they found the three boys waiting for them.

"You should be careful, Instructor Treize," Harry said worriedly. "Lucius Malfoy is an evil, vindictive man and I wouldn't put him past casting a spell on you for that."

"Indeed?" Treize lifted an eyebrow. He glanced at Roku. "Can you do anything about that?"

Roku grinned. "I could do a whole lot of things about that, but Mr. Malfoy wouldn't like any of them and I would get in trouble with Mama for most of them."

Treize grinned back. "Well, perhaps you could do something that Mr. Malfoy won't notice and then Quatre won't find out."

Roku thought about that for a moment. "I know!" he said suddenly with an evil chuckle. "_Veneficum repulse iuste!_" he said and tapped Treize and Zechs with a finger.

Zechs stared at him suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"If anyone tries to cast a bad spell on you, it will reflect on the caster. So if he doesn't do anything, nothing will happen."

"But if he does something bad…" Zechs prompted.

"He'll injure himself."

Harry and Ron goggled.

"You can do that?!" Ron exclaimed.

"Yeah," Roku shrugged. "It's a pretty easy spell. If I can figure out how to do it with my wand, I'll teach you."

"You should be instructing a class, Roku!" Ron said in amazement. "I wouldn't have any idea how to do something like that and you say it's easy!"

"Good afternoon, everyone," said a kindly voice and they all turned in surprise to find Dumbledore pacing toward them.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah," said Dumbledore with an impish smile, "Mr. Filch claims he saw miniature people riding Mrs. Norris in this hallway, so I thought I'd better check on it." He winked at Roku.

Roku tried to look innocent.

Treize and Zechs regarded Roku with pointed expressions.

"But so far…" Dumbledore continued, but he was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

"Albus!" Lucius Malfoy shouted as he came striding angrily down the hall, his cloak flaring out behind him. "I demand that you remove these persons from the premises immediately! They have no business at Hogwarts!" He stamped to a halt, but Ron, Harry and Roku noticed that he maintained a respectable distance from Treize.

"Oh!" Treize said, as if suddenly remembering something. He took Lucius' wand from under his jacket and held it out to Dumbledore. "I was going to ask you to return this to its owner."

Dumbledore kept a straight face, but he blinked rapidly as he took the wand from Treize. He immediately turned to Lucius. "I believe this is yours."

Lucius looked ready to shoot lightning bolts out of his eyes. He stepped forward and snatched the wand out of Dumbledore's hand. "Well?!" he demanded. "Are you going to get rid of them or not?"

"Oh, I think not," Dumbledore replied calmly. "I think physical education is an excellent addition to the Hogwarts education. Fencing is such a gentlemanly art, don't you think, Lucius?" Dumbledore blinked innocently.

Lucius scowled. "I will speak to the board of directors about this, Dumbledore," he growled. "This isn't over." He stalked away, his fury billowing around him just like his cloak.

"He's such a testy man," Dumbledore murmured. Then he turned to the others with a smile. "But never mind! Since you are only here for the school year and that is half over, I doubt anything is likely to happen before then. The board hates coming out in cold weather," he added with a chuckle.

"I didn't mean to cause trouble," Treize said, "but he did challenge me."

Dumbledore patted his arm. "Think nothing of it. Lucius Malfoy is one of those thorns we must all endure. Come, why don't we go to my office and have a nice cup of tea?" He turned to the boys. "I think you three have other plans, yes?"

At that moment, a shout echoed down the all.

"Harry!" Oliver Wood came striding briskly toward them. "What are you doing standing there? It's time for Quidditch practice! Let's go! We absolutely must beat Ravenclaw! Have you been looking at alternate brooms?"

"No." Harry's shoulders slumped at the reminder. "I'm still hoping to get my Firebolt back."

Oliver scowled. "A Firebolt!" He muttered. "I'll have to speak to McGonagall again. If we had a Firebolt on the team, I just know we'd win." He grabbed Harry by the arm. "But let's not waste valuable practice time fretting over it. Come on!" And he dragged Harry away.

Ron scratched his head. "We should probably go do our homework, Roku."

"I finished mine already."

Ron stared. "When?!"

"Before fencing practice."

"But we only had an hour break after our last class!"

"I know. I had a little time left over so I did some wand practice with Hermione, too."

"A little… time… left over?" Ron repeated faintly. He shook his head and slumped off down the hall, muttering. "It's not right, I tell you! It's just not right!"

Roku glanced at Dumbledore. "Maybe I'll go help him."

"That would be the friendly thing to do," Dumbledore agreed.

Roku scampered after Ron.

"What a delightful young man he is," Dumbledore said approvingly. "He's very well brought up."

"Oh, he has his mischievous side," Zechs murmured.

"Is kleptomania a kind of mischief?" Treize wondered aloud.

"How about that tea?" Dumbledore reminded them.

"Absolutely," Zechs said.

"Sounds lovely," Treize replied.

On the way to Dumbledore's office, they passed Jett and Hadeya. Jett was marching along with a determined look on her little face, leading Hadeya by one hand.

Treize lifted an eyebrow. "Where are you two off to?"

"Jett is taking me to Duo," Hadeya said.

"Is he hiding from Heero again?"

"Probably."

"Is Heero still upset about that truth serum incident?"

"Possibly," Hadeya acknowledged with a slight grin.

"But we still don't know what Duo asked him?"

"I think Uncle Wu-Fei knows, but he has not divulged anything."

"We should wait until he's itchy and then ask him," Zechs suggested.

"Good idea," Treize agreed with a chuckle.

"If you will please excuse me," Hadeya said, since Jett was tugging rather impatiently on his hand. "We will keep looking." He let the little girl pull him away.

Jett continued to march purposefully down halls, up staircases, and along other halls until she stopped outside a closed door in a dusty and seemingly unused corridor. "Momma's in there," she announced, pointing at the door.

"Thank you, Jett." Hadeya knocked on the door. Silence answered. Hadeya knocked again. "We know you are there, Uncle Duo. Jett brought me."

"Damn!" came the muffled exclamation from the other side of the door. There was the sound of a bolt sliding back and Duo peeked out. "But it's just you two, right?"

"Yes."

"Come in!" Duo opened the door just enough for the two of them to slip through and he immediately closed and bolted it. "You don't know how hard it is to find a completely unused room that Mrs. Norris doesn't check every once in a while." The room was small and stuffed with old battered furniture. Duo flopped down on an old couch, raising a cloud of dust. "So what's up?" He grinned as Jett climbed into his lap and started playing with his braid.

Hadeya shifted uncomfortably. "I wanted to ask your opinion about something." He perched stiffly on the seat of an overstuffed chair. "A little while ago, one of the seventh year girls asked me to tutor her on an assignment. Ever since then, she keeps finding reasons to talk to me alone. Earlier this afternoon, during one of these chats, she asked me if I wanted to kiss her. Well, I had not really thought about it, but I had the impression she really wanted to be kissed, and I remembered you saying it was impolite not to kiss someone who wanted to be kissed, so I kissed her."

"Way to go, Hadeya!" Duo grinned broadly. "So what did you want my opinion about?"

Hadeya's cheeks colored. "Is it normal for a girl to faint when you kiss her?"

Duo stared. "She fainted?!"

"Yes."

"How long did you kiss her for?"

"Not that long; maybe ten seconds."

Duo's eyes went round. "And it was just a normal kiss on the lips? With maybe a little tongue?"

"I did not use my tongue. That seemed a little forward for a first kiss."

"Holy cow! That must have been one hell of a kiss." Duo shifted Jett out of his lap and stood up. "I think you better show me."

"Show you?"

"Yeah, kiss me the way you kissed that girl. I want to feel what you were doing."

"Um, well, I guess." Hadeya stood up and approached Duo a little uncertainly.

"Just do whatever you did when you kissed her."

"All right." Hadeya slipped his arms around Duo's waist, pulled him close, tipped his head to the side and pressed his lips to Duo's.

Duo did not make a sound while he was being kissed, but as soon as Hadeya released him he drew in a long breath. "Wow!" He blinked at Hadeya. "And that was without tongue! Do it again with tongue."

"I've never kissed anyone like that."

"Just do what feels right." Duo put his arms around Hadeya's neck. Hadeya embraced him and kissed Duo again. This kiss lasted considerably longer than ten seconds. When it was over, Duo staggered back over to the couch and sank down next to Jett, his face pale. "Lord have mercy!" he breathed. "That is the best damn kiss I've ever had and I've had more than my fair share. No wonder the poor girl fainted!"

Hadeya sat back down. "Am I doing something wrong?"

"Heavens, no!" Duo wiped a hand over his face. "I need to find Wu-Fei. I need sex after a kiss like that and Heero will kill me if I jump you."

Hadeya blinked. "Jump me?"

"Just another in the endless list of slang terms for fucking," Duo chuckled. He stood up and scooped Jett onto one hip. "But a word of advice, my friend: those kisses are gonna land you in bed with somebody if you aren't careful about where you dole them out. You should stick to kissing people you wouldn't mind fucking."

"B… but," Hadeya stammered in confusion, "how am I supposed to know who I would not mind fucking?"

Duo threw his head back and laughed. "I am not the person you should be asking that question! You may have noticed I'm a tad indiscriminate." He opened the door and peeked out into the hall. "But those kisses of yours could become addictive, so you better be careful or you'll end up with more lovers than you have time for."

"I, uh, I will keep that in mind."

They slipped out into the hall and Duo led the way downstairs. When they were back in more used corridors, Duo kissed Jett's cheek. "Ok, sweetie, take me to Papa Wu-Fei."

Jett pointed. "That way."

"I'll see you at dinner, Hadeya."

Hadeya watched them go with a bemused expression. Then he noticed a group of girls watching him and he scurried for the stairs.

Harry got his Firebolt back the next day and every Gryffindor at Hogwarts became as excited as if each of them had personally received a Firebolt. Oliver Wood was practically beside himself and he declared their first practice with the Firebolt in their midst the best practice ever. In fact, everything would have been nearly perfect, in Harry's opinion, if Crookshanks had not chosen that particular time to apparently succeed in his ongoing quest to consume the unfortunate Scabbers. Ron and Hermione stopped speaking and Harry got caught in the middle of it. So it was something of a relief when the day of the match with Ravenclaw finally arrived.

Heero insisted that he and Duo patrol the perimeter of the field during the match to keep an eye out for dementors, even though Duo was positive that no dementors were in the vicinity. Which was why, of course, Heero caught him later under the stands with Roku eating a roast turkey that Roku had stuffed in his storage space.

When he found them, Heero crossed his arms and regarded the pair with a stern glare.

Duo grinned sheepishly. "We're just having a quick snack. I'll get right back on patrol in a minute."

"You're a lying sack of shit."

"No, really! As soon as we're done, I'm heading right back out."

There was a sudden flurry of shouts from the stands.

"Shit!" Heero snapped and he dashed out onto the field with Duo and Roku on his heels.

Three dementors stood on the field looking up at Harry, but as several teachers converged on the trio, Harry shouted something and shot a silvery blast from his wand. The three dementors were smashed into the ground and immediately revealed to be students in costume.

"See, I told you there weren't any dementors," Duo said.

Heero scowled at him. "Did you know they were going to try this trick?"

"Of course! That's how I got such good odds out of them." At Heero's dark glare, Duo lifted his chin self-righteously. "It's only fair! They were planning to cheat so they deserved to lose a lot of money for it. I knew it wouldn't affect Harry since they weren't real dementors. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go collect while they're too ashamed to not pay up." He marched off toward the Slytherin section of the stands.

As the triumphant Gryffindors marched back to their common room, Harry pressed close to Roku. "See? He doesn't like me at all! He wouldn't have done something like that if he liked me."

"Of course he would have," Roku said, "especially if he was trying to prove to himself and everyone else that he doesn't like you. You should read up on the psychology of adolescents. He's acting out pretty dramatically, if you ask me."

Harry stared. "You've studied psychology?"

"Yeah. Papa Wu-Fei says it's the only way to really put history in context. You have to understand what motivates people."

"You scare me sometimes, Roku."

The party in the Gryffindor common room lasted long into the night, until they were chased into bed by Professor McGonagall. But in the middle of the night, everyone was startled awake by Ron's terrified scream. This was followed almost immediately by deep-throated snarls and the sound of something heavy charging down the stairs, punctuated by a sudden yowl.

"It was Sirius Black!" Ron cried. "He slashed at me with a knife!"

Harry, Ron and the other boys in their room dashed for the stairs, where they were joined by dozens of other boys.

"What's going on?"

"What's happening?"

Harry led the rush into the common room and skidded to a halt.

Roku, in tiger form, was standing in the portrait hole, his front paws on the lip, his ears laid back, and his long tail lashing back and forth. The deep rumbling growl issuing from his throat filled the common room.

"What the hell?" someone exclaimed.

Harry approached the angry-looking tiger slowly. "Roku?"

Roku looked over his shoulder and his ears came up. Then he spun around on his back paws and trotted over to Harry. "He's gone, but I nipped him pretty good as he was jumping through the portrait hole. I decided I should guard the entrance rather than chase him."

"Is… Is that Roku?" Dean Thomas asked in astonishment.

Roku shimmered into human form. "Sorry about that, but it seemed the best way to encourage him to leave."

"Was it Sirius Black?" Harry asked worriedly.

"It was the same man I smelled before," Roku said.

"Wait just a minute!" Dean interrupted. "How long have you been an animagus?" he demanded of Roku.

"Always," Roku said, for once not going into a highly detailed explanation.

"What's going on here?" Percy stamped into the room angrily.

"Sirius Black tried to kill me!" Ron cried.

"Roku can turn into a tiger!" several other students cried.

"What? What?" Percy exclaimed.

Now several girls had come downstairs and then the portrait banged open and Professor McGonagall stormed in.

"What is going on?" McGonagall roared. "Why are you students not in bed?"

"Sirius Black!" Ron shouted. "In my room! With a knife!"

"Roku is an animagus!" Dean Thomas exclaimed loudly.

"What nonsense are you all talking about? Sirius Black could not get into Gryffindor tower and I would know if Roku were an animagus."

Roku hung his head. "Well… actually…" He shifted into tiger form and sat down with his tail around his feet. "I was kind of keeping it a secret."

McGonagall stared.

"And Sirius Black was here. I recognized his scent."

"But how…?"

"Ask Sir Cadogan!" Ron said.

At which point it was learned that Sir Cadogan had indeed admitted a man in possession of the entire week's passwords, read from a slip of paper undoubtedly lost by the hapless Neville Longbottom.

In the morning, the castle was abuzz with news. Groups of people could be heard talking first about Sirius Black, then about Roku and then back to Black again. Everyone wanted to hear Ron's story in complete detail and everyone also wanted to see Roku in his animal form.

Roku was not the least bit upset by this turn of events. "Ahhh!" he sighed contentedly as he lounged in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room a few days later. "Heat is good!"

Harry frowned at him. "You've been lazing about since dinner! Don't you have any homework to do?"

"Finished it."

Evie and Susie came over and plopped down on the rug beside Roku.

"Want your belly rubbed?" Evie offered.

Roku immediately rolled onto his back and waggled his paws in the air. Evie and Susie grinned as they scrubbed their fingers through the fur on his belly. Roku purred, the rumbling sound filling the common room. He winked at Harry "See?" he rumbled. "It's good to be a tiger."


	14. Another Blond?

Chapter 14: **Another Blond?**

Astonishingly, life got back to something that seemed a lot like normal, despite the fact that Sirius Black escaped again. The fact that he was apparently able to come and go pretty much at will, despite the dementors guarding the entrances, had most of the teachers on edge and the dementors demanding that they be allowed to patrol the grounds. Privately, many people whispered that Black must be in the castle somewhere, because otherwise how could he have escaped the dementors? But the teachers were adamant that Black was not in the castle, so the students were able to get back to their studies.

In fact, another outing to Hogsmeade was scheduled for those students who were allowed to go. Of course, this nominally did not include Harry, but he nevertheless made plans to go with Ron. Hermione thought this was a mistake, but Ron snubbed her pretty hard. As she was about to flee the room, Roku caught her.

"I'll keep an eye on Harry, Hermione," Roku said. "I know what Sirius Black smells like, so I won't let him hurt Harry." He grinned. "I can always shove Harry in my storage space to protect him."

Hermione was immediately distracted from her distress. "You can put living things in your storage space? Won't they suffocate?"

"No. Everything sort of goes into stasis. I've got a green lizard in there right now if you want to see it."

Hermione's eyes widened and she swallowed. "Um… That's ok. Maybe… some other time." Then her shoulders slumped. "Besides, I've got loads of homework to do right now. I'll talk to you later."

"Ok."

Hermione trudged upstairs and Roku return to Harry and Ron.

"I think I should go with you to protect Harry," Roku said.

"That's a good idea!" Ron said eagerly. "If Black turns up, you can bite his head off!"

"I'll wear my invisibility cloak," Harry said quietly, "and I'll meet you in town."

"Right."

On the day of the trip, Harry arrived in town to find Ron and Roku waiting in the street in front of Honeyduke's.

"Wouldn't you be able to smell Black better as a tiger?" Harry wondered.

"My sense of smell is always the same," Roku said. "Anyway, it makes Ron nervous when I'm a tiger."

"It does not! I just thought it would alarm the townsfolk!"

Roku grinned at Harry. Despite the fact that Harry was invisible, Roku seemed to know exactly where he was.

"Let's look around," said Ron.

The three of them wandered all over Hogsmeade, visiting all the places Harry had not made it to before. At last, they climbed the hill outside of town to look at the Shrieking Shake, a building with the terrifying reputation of being the most haunted place for miles around, where even the Hogwarts' ghosts would not go.

"It doesn't look like much," Ron muttered.

Roku looked off toward the crest of the hill. "Oh, it's Draco."

"What?!" Harry pulled his cloak around him carefully to make sure he was completely invisible.

As they watched, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle came over the top of the hill. Draco immediately began to swagger when he saw Ron.

"Looking for a new home?" he said loudly. "I imagine that's a step up for you." He nodded toward the Shrieking Shake with a snicker. Crabbe and Goyle snorted in amusement.

Ron balled up his fists, but Roku tipped his head to one side. "How's your dad, Draco? I heard my uncle Treize kicked his butt."

Draco flushed angrily. "He did not! My dad was just being a gentleman and let him win!"

"So that's why he ended up on his face with his butt in the air?"

"Shut up!" Draco cried. He started to charge forward and Harry tripped him, sending Draco face first into a squelching pool of mud. Crabbe and Goyle rushed forward to help him and Harry kicked Goyle in the ass. Goyle grabbed for Crabbe to keep from falling, clutching the front of Crabbe's robe while Crabbe pinwheeled his arms in the air, trying to keep his balance. Then both boys crashed into the mud puddle on top of Draco.

"Get off me!" Draco screamed as the two heavy boys struggled to regain their feet in the slippery mud.

Ron howled with laughter, pointing a shaking finger at Draco's mud-coated face. "You should dye your hair, Malfoy!" he howled. "You look better as a brunette!"

Draco's face flushed scarlet under the mud. "I'll get you for this!" he cried furiously.

Ron just doubled over, clutching his stomach.

Draco shoved Crabbe toward Ron. "Get him!"

Crabbe took two stumbling steps toward Ron and found himself face to face with a tiger. Roku emitted the deep-throated, rumbling cough that hunting tigers made; a terrifying sound designed to chill the blood. All the color left Crabbe's face and he slowly backed away. Roku took a step forward and Crabbe suddenly whirled around with a terrified cry and raced away. Roku jumped at Goyle and the fat boy took off at a lumbering run, crying out for Crabbe to wait for him.

"You'd better run, too, Malfoy!" Ron crowed. "I don't think he's eaten today."

Obviously grasping for the last shreds of his dignity, Draco stood his ground, but the whiteness of his face could be seen under the mud. Roku stepped toward him and Draco took an involuntary step backward. But his foot slipped in the mud and he fell, his elbow catching in the edge of Harry's cloak and pulling it down. Harry grabbed it but it was too late. His face and part of his head were right in Draco's line of sight. Draco stared up at this new apparition with a look of pure horror. Then he leaped to his feet and dashed away screaming.

Ron doubled over again, laughing even harder than before. "Did you see his face? He looked like he'd seen a ghost!"

"Won't he tell someone?" Roku said.

Ron immediately sobered. "He's right. You better get back, Harry."

"Right!" Harry dashed back to town.

"I'll try to delay him," Roku said and he galloped after Draco.

In the end, Snape very nearly caught Harry, but he could not figure out how Harry had gotten into town, although he was convinced he had been there. But worse for Draco, everyone just laughed at him when he claimed Roku had tried to eat him.

"You should have bitten him!" Hermione said angrily. "Hagrid lost the case! Buckbeak's going to be executed because of Malfoy! You should have torn his arm off!"

Ron and Harry stared at Hermione in alarm. She sounded much more savage than normal.

"Are you all right, Hermione?" Harry ventured. "You look a little tired."

"I'm fine!" Hermione said quickly in a high-pitched voice. "I just have a lot of work to do!"

"It's hard to live in parallel," Roku said. "We try to avoid that ourselves."

Hermione's eyes went round. "What?!"'

"What do you mean, Roku?" Harry asked curiously.

"Nothing!" Hermione interrupted quickly. "It's nothing! That's good advice, Roku! I'll keep it in mind!" Hermione scurried away, muttering to herself.

Roku gazed after her thoughtfully. "She needs more sleep."

"I'll say," said Ron. "Maybe it's guilt keeping her awake," he added darkly. "Poor Scabbers…"

The days flew by and the last Quidditch match of the season was fast approaching. This pivotal match between Slytherin and Gryffindor would decide who won the Quidditch Cup and all of Hogwarts was in an uproar. Harry was subject to constant attempts of sabotage by Slytherins, and fights between Gryffindors and Slytherins were common. How anyone managed to pay attention in class was anybody's guess.

In Quatre's wandless magic class, the excitement was producing some unexpected results. A seventh year Hufflepuff girl was staring in horror at the dangling locks of her formerly bright gold hair, which was now dyed a gleaming emerald green.

"What did I do wrong, Professor Winner?!" she exclaimed in dismay. "I was trying to make a green flame!"

Quatre sighed. "You pronounced the words wrong and you weren't concentrating. Remember, I said the exact wording isn't critical as long as you have a firm image in mind of what you want."

"But I did!" she wailed. "I don't want green hair!"

"I think the color suits you," a Slytherin girl said snidely.

The Hufflepuff girl began to cry and Quatre gave the Slytherin girl a stern look. "Does anyone want to try changing Miss Tanner's hair back to normal?"

Several hands shot into the air, among them Hermione and the Slytherin girl, who had a suspiciously eager look on her face. Percy also had his hand up and after a brief hesitation, Quatre called on him.

"Very well, Percy, why don't you give it a try? Now remember, the goal is to return Miss Tanner's hair to its natural state."

"Right," Percy said with a nod. He focused on Miss Tanner with a frown of concentration and raised his right hand. "_Crinita aurea!_" he said.

Immediately, bright gold hair sprouted all over Miss Tanner's body, including from her face, until she was completely covered with hair. Long golden strands could be seen poking out of her clothes and even the tops of her shoes. Sadly, the hair on her head was still green. Miss Tanner clutched at her face with both hands, but the horrified expression that was probably there was completely obscured by the smooth gold hair covering her face. Only her wide, shocked eyes could be seen as they filled with more tears.

"Oh! Wait!" Percy cried. "That isn't what I meant to have happen!"

"Undoubtedly," Quatre said dryly. "Anyone else?"

"No one else!" Miss Tanner cried. "They'll just make it worse!"

Nevertheless, Hermione rose to her feet with a determined look on her face. "I think I know what Percy did wrong, Professor Winner. May I try?"

"Please do."

Hermione pointed at Miss Tanner and declared firmly, "_Auricoma!_"

At once, Miss Tanner's hair changed from green back to its natural golden shade. Unfortunately, the flowing coat of body hair provided by Percy remained.

"Very good, Miss Granger," Quatre said. "Your choice of wording was much better under the circumstances."

"But Professor Winner…!" Miss Tanner wailed, tugging at the hair on her face.

"Yes, yes, stop fretting, Miss Tanner," Quatre replied a little testily. He waved a hand at her and the body hair immediately disappeared. "Now class, these kinds of mistakes in concentration can affect your wanded spells as well as wandless magic. Please try to keep focused."

"But the Quidditch match, Professor Winner…" someone spoke up and Quatre groaned.

"I don't want to hear another word about that during class. If necessary, I'll wipe all knowledge of it out of your heads."

Hermione sat up straight, looking excited despite the dark circles under her eyes. "Can you really do that, Professor Winner? Without a wand, I mean."

"I've never tried it, but I'm sure it can be done. Now, let's get back to today's lesson."

The students made a few more mistakes during the lesson, but nothing as dramatic as what had happened to Miss Tanner. It was probably just as well that Wu-Fei's class the following day did not employ the use of magic, because the rate of concentration was equally poor.

Wu-Fei was very exasperated. "Did none of you study today's lesson at all?"

Guilty looks appeared on most faces.

"We're sorry, Professor Chang," Susie, the seventh year girl from Gryffindor finally spoke up. "The Quidditch match has us all in a dither," she admitted. "I know we shouldn't let that interfere with class work, but…"

Wu-Fei sighed. "When is this match?"

"Next week."

"Very well. Why don't we cancel class for today, but I want you to promise me that you will make some kind of attempt to study the lesson before our next class."

"We will!" Susie declared immediately, in chorus with several others. But as the students filed out of the room, she and her friend Evie approached Hadeya with determined expressions. "Hadeya, Evie and I were wondering if we might have a private word with you. We don't want to waste the class time, so would you have time for us?"

Hadeya blinked uncertainly. "Of course."

"Great!" Each of the girls looped an arm through one of Hadeya's and they dragged him away.

"We'd love to see your room, Hadeya," Evie said coyly. "Do you mind?"

"Well, um, I suppose not. Someone might be there, though."

"That's all right."

Hadeya took the two young women back to the Gundam pilots' suite, but to his dismay, no one was there.

"Which room is yours?" Susie asked innocently.

"This one." Hadeya opened the door to his room and both girls immediately scooted inside. They plopped down on the end of the bed and regarded him with eager eyes.

"Why don't you shut the door?" Evie said.

"And come sit with us," Susie added. She tipped her head to one side. "I heard you kissed Penelope Clearwater."

Hadeya hesitantly shut the door. "Just once."

"She said it was the most amazing kiss she ever had. Percy won't even talk to her right now." Susie chuckled. "I'd love it if you kissed me like that."

"Me, too!" Evie said quickly.

"Um, all right." Hadeya sat down on the bed between the two girls. "Who first?"

"Susie can go first," Evie said generously. "This was her idea."

Hadeya turned to Susie and put his hands on her shoulders. Then he kissed her warmly on the mouth, using his tongue because Duo had said that was better. After several seconds, Susie slumped backwards with a soft moan. Her cheeks were pale and her eyes remained closed. Hadeya blinked at her worriedly for a moment and then he turned to Evie. Evie leaned forward eagerly and he pressed his lips firmly to hers. After a moment, she too slumped over, landing on her side with glazed eyes.

"Oh, wow!" Susie whispered. "That was fantastic!" She stared dreamily at Hadeya. "I wonder what it would be like to do it with you."

Evie groaned softly. "Yeah, let's do it. Susie can go first again."

Hadeya stared from one girl to the other. "What?! You mean have sex?! Just like that?!

Both girls nodded. "We won't tell anyone. Promise."

"Well, I… uh… I guess we can." Hadeya stammered. "If you really want to."

Susie stood up and stepped out of her robes. "Oh, yeah. I really want to."

Some time later, Duo found Hadeya sitting in the common room looking bemused.

"What's up, Hadeya? You look odd."

Hadeya scratched his head. "I had sex."

"What?!"

"With two girls. They insisted."

Duo grinned widely. "That's fantastic, Hadeya! Welcome to the world of men!" He plopped down next to him. "Tell me all about it."

"Well…" Hadeya frowned slightly. "How many times do girls normally come during sex?"

Duo blinked. "It depends on the girl, and how good the guy is, but at least once is normal."

"But three times is not unusual?"

Duo stared. "Excuse me?"

"I did it with both girls and they each came three times."

"How many times did you come?"

"Twice. Once with each of them." Hadeya blushed. "It felt really good," he confided. Then he looked worried. "But they both passed out afterward. They're still sleeping in my room."

Duo clapped him on the back. "Well done, nephew! Your first time and you fucked them unconscious! Way to go!"

"It's all right, then?"

"Absolutely. I'm proud of you. You're definitely Heero's son. He's the only person who's ever managed to fuck me unconscious all by himself." Duo's eyes lost focus. "Man, that was good." Then he shook his head. "Anyway, don't worry about it. You're a demigod and the son of the goddess of love and beauty. I think such prowess is to be expected."

Hadeya looked down at his hands, folded in his lap. "So it's normal that I really want to do it again, even though I just did it?"

"Oh yeah, that's totally normal," Duo assured him. "I never get tired of sex." Hadeya shifted uncomfortably and Duo studied his face. "Are you hard up right now?"

Hadeya nodded quickly, his cheeks flushing.

"Well, that's a problem." Duo closed his eyes and focused. "Hmm… Heero's not in the castle right now." He grabbed Hadeya's hand. "Come on, we have time."

Hadeya stared and licked his lips. "But you said Father would be angry if you did it with me."

Duo shrugged and grinned. "Yeah, but what's a loving uncle to do when his nephew needs help? I consider it my duty to relieve your distress. Let's go. I'll teach you how to do it with a guy. I suspect you're going to need to know how to go both ways anyway."

Just before dinner, Heero stood in the middle of the front hall, frowning.

Trowa, on his way in from spending a day trying to cheer Hagrid up, stopped beside him. "Something wrong, Heero?"

"I don't know. I've had this nagging feeling all afternoon, but I don't know what it is." He scratched his head. "I keep thinking I hear Duo, but I haven't seen him all day."

"That's funny," Trowa said. "I had the feeling I could hear Duo earlier, too, but I thought it was my imagination. Why don't we ask Roku? He's pretty sensitive."

They found Roku in the Great Hall, stretched out on the Gryffindor table in tiger form and looking mighty comfortable.

"Say, Roku," Trowa said, "have you noticed any thoughts coming from Duo today?"

"Oh, yeah," Roku said absently. "He's been being naughty with Hadeya all afternoon and he keeps projecting. It must be pretty good."

"He's being naughty with Hadeya?!" Heero demanded. "All afternoon?!"

Roku looked up. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that."

"That's it! He's dead meat!" Heero stormed out of the room.

"Can you warn Duo?" Trowa asked Roku.

"I'll try, but it's hard to get him to notice me when he's having sex." Roku closed his eyes and his brow wrinkled with concentration. "Oh, there, that worked. They just finished. Again," he added with a chuckle. "Hadeya has a lot of stamina."

"Sounds perfect for Duo."

Roku chuckled.

"Maybe I better go find Quatre. He can immobilize Heero until he calms down."

"Papa Heero won't kill Papa Duo," Roku said.

"But he might beat the crap out of him."

"Papa Duo won't mind. Papa Heero usually ends up having sex with him whenever he beats him up."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. Papa Heero can't just say he likes him, so he beats him up instead."

"That's kind of juvenile."

"I think it's sweet."

"You're a little odd."

"I know."

"I'm going to look for Quatre anyway. He always gets a little testy when I spend the day with Hagrid."

"He's with Papa Wu-Fei in the teachers lounge."

"Thanks."

Heero nearly crashed into Susie and Evie emerging from the Gundam pilots' lounge when he arrived. They blushed and giggled at him before scurrying away. His scowl darkened as he banged into the lounge. "You better not have been having a foursome!" he growled.

Hadeya stood in the middle of the lounge looking tremendously guilty and really satisfied. Duo slumped on the couch, sweaty and exhausted.

"Nope," Duo said. "Hadeya knocked them off first." He grinned at Heero. "But you like threesomes, so what's wrong with a foursome?"

Heero clenched his right fist and pointed an accusing left forefinger in Hadeya's direction. "Who said you could jump my kid?"

"Hadeya's a grown boy," Duo replied. "A really grown boy," he added under his breath. "So I figured his permission was the only consent I needed."

Heero clenched both fists. "I should pound you flat!"

"Let me rest for an hour and you can pound me all you want," Duo said with a grin.

Heero jumped on him with a growl.

"Ouch! Watch that!" Duo grunted. "Quit poking me with that! Dang it! Wait! Oh! That feels pretty good. Right there! Yeah! Keep doing that!"

Hadeya watched with lifted eyebrows as Heero thoroughly punished Duo for his transgression.

Afterward, Duo lay on the floor groaning. "I could have done better if you'd waited," he moaned.

Heero sat on the floor glaring at him. "Just keep your horny paws off my kid!"

"What if Hadeya has needs? He's a demigod of love! He shouldn't try to hold that in."

"There are plenty of other people he can fuck!"

Duo rolled his eyes and grinned. "So tell me you love me and I'll agree."

"Do I really need to beat you up this time?"

"You're so mean! You could just whisper it in my ear."

"Whisper what in your ear?" Wu-Fei said as he came in the door. "And I'm glad to see you're not dead."

"Maybe not, but he spanked me really hard," Duo mock-pouted.

"I bet he did," Wu-Fei snorted. "So did you really fuck Hadeya?"

Trowa and Quatre came through the door behind Wu-Fei.

"I was just doing him a favor," Duo said self-righteously. "Anyway, those two Gryffindor girls started it. If they hadn't insisted on getting fucked and then passing out before he'd had enough, I wouldn't have had to get involved."

Everyone turned to stare at Hadeya. "You fucked two Gryffindor girls?"

"They were seventh year!" Hadeya said quickly. "And they asked me to. It seemed impolite to say no."

Wu-Fei lifted an eyebrow. "You didn't by any chance ask Duo's advice on any sexual matters, did you?"

"Well," Hadeya hesitated. "I might have."

Heero smacked his forehead.

Quatre and Trowa tried to keep from grinning.

Wu-Fei shook his head. "That certainly explains it. Oh well, Heero. Your little boy isn't a virgin anymore."

"And it's Duo's fault!"

"It was bound to happen sooner or later, Heero," Quatre said, trying to keep his voice level, but a snicker escaped him.

"What was bound to happen?" asked Zechs. He, Treize, Alexa and Jett came into the room together.

"Hadeya got laid," Trowa reported.

"By Duo, no doubt," Zechs said immediately.

"Hey!" Duo exclaimed. "I wasn't the first!"

"Oh?" Zechs and Treize regarded Hadeya speculatively.

"Yeah! Two girls got in ahead of me."

Hadeya blushed furiously as Alexa and Jett blinked at him, wide-eyed.

Treize stepped over and patted Hadeya on the shoulder. "Good man! Trying all the possibilities. Well done."

Zechs regarded Treize expressionlessly.

Treize gulped. "But remember: when you decide to settle down, be faithful! There's nothing like the joy of holding your true love close."

"When given the opportunity," Zechs murmured.

Treize immediately caught Zechs by the hand. "How would you like to take a bath after dinner? I'll wash your hair."

Zechs smiled faintly. "I'll think about it."

"I think I need a bath before dinner," Duo said. He pushed to his feet with a groan. "Man, I can barely walk! You guys really reamed me."

"Serves you right," Wu-Fei said.

"I'm sorry! Next time I'll include you."

"I don't need to be included in your randy sex games."

Duo grinned. "That sounds like a challenge. Say, Heero, what say we remind Wu-Fei how much he loves us after dinner?"

Heero glanced speculatively at Wu-Fei.

Wu-Fei paled. "That isn't necessary," he exclaimed.

"I still feel kind of upset," Heero said. "I need to relax some more."

"Don't worry, Wu-Fei," Duo chuckled. "We won't wear you out completely. I don't think I could manage more than two or three turns at this point."

"What?!"

"I'll meet you at dinner." Duo headed out the door.

"I'm hungry," Jett said.

"Me, too," said Alexa.

"Sounds like it's time for dinner," said Quatre.

"So tell me," Treize asked Hadeya curiously as they all headed down to the Great Hall, "how many times did you and Duo do it?"

"Not many," Hadeya said self-consciously. "Just seven times. It takes me kind of a long time to finish; perhaps because I am still new at it."

"A long time to finish…" Zechs murmured.

Treize frowned at him. "Normally, beginners finish quickly, not slowly," he said to Hadeya. "No wonder Duo looked so satisfied."

Heero glared at Treize. "I don't need any more of you violating my son's innocence, thank you very much."

"Oh, I think his innocence is pretty well shredded," Quatre chuckled.

"Yup, that horse is out of the barn," Trowa agreed.

"I'd definitely have to agree that that ship has sailed," Wu-Fei put in.

"Yes! I get it!" Heero snapped. "Can we just drop this topic, please?"

"Of course, if you think about it," Trowa continued after a moment, "Hadeya has now had sex with twice as many females as Heero."

"That's true," Quatre agreed.

"Would you please SHUT UP?!" Heero shouted.

"He's cute when he's angry," Trowa said.

"ARGHHH!!"


	15. A BandAid and a Kiss

Chapter 15: **A Band-Aid and a Kiss**

Trowa stuck his head into Quatre's office. "Say, Quatre, can you do a farseeing for me?"

"I suppose. What for?"

"I want to find Gift, if he's awake. Hagrid's still pretty broken up over Buckbeak. He's still struggling with the appeal and I thought meeting a talking dragon would cheer him up."

Quatre scowled. "You seem awfully concerned about Hagrid."

"Come on, be nice. Hagrid's a nice guy." Trowa grinned. "I'll thank you properly for the favor tonight."

Quatre sighed. "Oh, very well, if you insist. But you realize we're in the reality of a book. Gift might not exist here."

"Sure he will. Knowing your magic, I bet he got sucked in too."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I just mean your magic is very powerful!" Trowa amended hastily.

"Hmm…"

"You're a fantastic sorcerer, Quatre. I'm sure Merlin would be amazed by how advanced you've become."

"Nice save," Quatre muttered. He rummaged in his desk for a mirror. "You're just lucky Roku gave me one of his mirrors." Quatre shook his head. "The kid keeps producing them for no apparent reason. He seems to have a passion for making stuff out of nothing." Quatre laid the small hand mirror flat on the desk and stood up so he could lean over it. He muttered a spell and studied the mirror intently. "Ah, there he is. It looks like he just woke up." He murmured another spell and watched as the scene rapidly changed. "Hmm. That doesn't seem too far from here. It looks like he's living in a cave in the Forbidden Forest now. Or maybe his cave got absorbed by the Forbidden Forest. Anyway, I have the route memorized, so next time we see Duo, he can pick it out of my brain and stuff it into yours."

"Ok."

Quatre put the mirror back in his desk drawer. "So, I'm not doing anything right now. You can thank me now."

Trowa grinned and put his arms around Quatre's waist. "Oh, really? You always say doing it in the middle of the day is extravagant."

"Well, I'm feeling extravagant."

"Extravagant? That's a nice word for it. I'm feeling extravagant too. In fact, my extravagance is really big right now. I think we should rub our extravagances together."

"You're disgusting."

"If you'd rather, I can stick my extravagance into your indulgence."

Quatre giggled. "That's really disgusting!"

Trowa snuggled Quatre's ear. "So do I get to enjoy your favors?"

"Of course."

"I thought of a new position to try."

Quatre paled. "Not a new one! The last one nearly broke my hip!"

"This one's not as acrobatic."

"By whose standards? You're a circus performer!"

"Trust me! You'll have no trouble getting into this position. And we won't need any props this time. I don't want you to get another rope burn."

Quatre groaned. "I do not have a good feeling about this."

"But I'll give you a very good feeling once we get going."

"I just know I'm going to regret this."

"You'll love it. It's gonna be great."

Sometime later, Treize and Zechs came back to the suite.

"What's that groaning sound?" Zechs wondered.

"Sounds like Quatre," Treize said.

"Really?" Zechs listened and then his cheeks colored slightly. "You don't suppose Trowa is experimenting again? That boy is getting very creative."

"I'll say. You wouldn't even let me try the last thing he came up with."

"Quatre's a lot shorter than me!" Zechs exclaimed.

"Height has nothing to do with it."

"And anyway, there's no way I could keep my legs in that position!"

"That's what the rope is for." Treize grinned. "You sure you don't want to try it? Quatre looked really satisfied last time."

"He was also walking like his hip was out of the socket."

"You're no fun."

"Oh?" Zechs lifted an eyebrow. "So if I was to say something like I'm aching with need and desperate to have you inside me, you wouldn't be willing to just do it the old-fashioned way?"

Treize blinked. "Are you?"

Zechs tipped his head forward so his bangs spilled over his eyes. "Why don't you take me into the bedroom and find out?"

Treize grabbed Zechs by the hand and pulled him into their bedroom.

That evening, Quatre was utterly blissful. "What a lovely evening!" he greeted the others cheerfully as they assembled in the common room before dinner. "I must say, I have a bit of an appetite tonight."

"I should think so," said Duo, "after all that fucking."

"Quit eavesdropping on my pleasurable memories," Quatre said airily.

"Then quit thinking them at me!" Duo complained. He squinted at Trowa. "I see what you did. That's pretty cool. Hey, Wu-Fei, I want to try something after dinner tonight."

"What?"

"Weren't you paying attention? Trowa and Quatre did a new position. It looks great. I want to try it."

Wu-Fei paled. "I'm not trying any more of Trowa's crazy sex positions. Human bodies were not meant to contort like that."

"Nonsense! Acrobats do that kind of stuff all the time."

"I'm not an acrobat!"

"But you're an exceptional physical specimen with highly refined reflexes," Duo said.

Wu-Fei scowled. "Just because I like to stay fit does not mean it's so you can fuck me while I'm standing on my head!"

"Oh?" Duo slipped an arm around Wu-Fei's waist. "You mean you're not keeping this hot, tight body all buff and sexy just for me?"

"No!" Wu-Fei tried to shove Duo away.

"What if I scratch your scales while we're doing it? And I'll oil you all over afterward. Heero will help me, won't you, Heero?"

"You do look a little flaky," Heero said.

"I'm sure he means your skin," Duo stage-whispered.

Wu-Fei successfully shoved Duo away. "I know he means my skin!"

Roku came bounding through the door with Alexa and Jett clinging to his tail. "What's keeping you guys? It's time for dinner. Quit talking about sex! There's a special feast tonight because of the final Quidditch match tomorrow. Let's go! Let's go!" He bounded back through the door, still dragging Jett and Alexa.

"I guess it's time to eat," Quatre said dryly.

The feast was indeed festive, with decorations in the colors of Gryffindor and Slytherin festooning the walls and students from the rival houses shouting good-natured insults across the hall. Everyone heaped encouragement on their Quidditch team players. The Gryffindors were especially excited because they were sure they would win with Harry competing on his Firebolt broomstick again.

The excitement was even thicker at breakfast the next morning and everyone headed to the Quidditch field as soon as they had eaten. The Gundam pilots all walked down together. Duo walked between Heero and Wu-Fei, holding their hands and swinging them back and forth cheerfully.

"Man, I feel great!" Duo said.

"I have to admit, I feel pretty good, too," Wu-Fei said. "I think you scratched off all the loose scales last night."

"I certainly hope so," Heero said. "There were an awful lot of them."

"I hope you saved them," Quatre spoke up.

"We did. We put them in a jar for you."

"Great. I'll have to see how much Roku's holding for me. There might be enough to make another dragon-scale shirt."

"I want it!" Duo exclaimed. "I want to wear a piece of Wu-Fei close to my heart!"

"Sheesh!" Wu-Fei muttered, but there was a hint of a smile on his face.

"By the way, Hadeya," Treize spoke up with an innocent expression, "I heard you come back to the suite rather late last night. Or should I say rather early this morning?"

Hadeya blushed. "Well, you see, I received an invitation for a, um, tryst from, ah, one or two girls so I was kind of busy last night."

"Was it one girl or two girls?" Treize questioned with a straight face.

"Well, it started out with just two girls," Hadeya said quickly, his cheeks flaming, "but there seemed to be around six by the end."

"Six girls?"

"Or maybe eight."

"You're not sure?"

"Well, it is possible there were more. They kept coming and going, so I sort of lost track of how many I did it with. And I think there were repeaters."

"This is your influence, Duo!" Heero growled.

"Hey, you're his father!" Duo protested. "It's not my fault he inherited your great big…"

"Students approaching!" Quatre interrupted loudly.

Duo fell silent with a grin as they arrived at the Quidditch field and were surrounded by excited fans. They climbed up into the stands and found seats among a mass of students wearing the red and yellow of Gryffindor. Most of them were furiously waving flags and shouting excitedly for no reason. Then the players came out onto the field and mounted their broomsticks and the crowd really got loud.

"Harry flies really fast," Alexa said.

"He certainly does," Treize agreed. "A Gundam would be faster, though."

"But less maneuverable," Zechs pointed out.

"True, but you can't fall off a Gundam."

"Harry won't fall off," Alexa said. "He's really good."

Then the match started and everyone got caught up in the competition. It was an exciting match that bordered on a brawl, punctuated at the end by a thrilling, high-speed dive by Harry to catch the Snitch just in front of Draco's outstretched fingers. The roar of the crowd was deafening. Gryffindor fans raced onto the field to lift their team onto their shoulders and parade them about, shouting the whole time and generally acting like idiots.

"So did you make money on this game, too?" Heero asked Duo with a slight frown.

"Nah, I felt a little guilty about taking advantage of the Slytherins again."

"Duo felt guilty?" Zechs murmured in surprise. "That has to be a first."

"I do have a conscience!"

"Imagine that!"

"Humph!" Duo stuck his nose in the air.

"I want to congratulate Harry," Alexa complained, "but I can't get through."

"GET OUTTA THE WAY!" Jett shouted.

In front of them, people were mowed down and tumbled across the ground like pill bugs, opening up a clear path to where Harry was being carried on people's shoulders, except at the moment he was hanging on precariously to his broomstick with one hand and had a huge tuft of Ron's hair in the other to keep from being knocked to the ground.

"Now you can reach him," Jett said.

"Goody!" Alexa dashed down the open path.

Heero had a hand over his face and Duo was wearing a rather sheepish grin.

"Um… Jett?" said Duo. "You probably shouldn't shout people out of the way like that."

"I don't think anyone's hurt," Roku said, "and anyway, did you notice that her shout stopped right at Harry? That's pretty good control."

"Roku makes a good point," Treize agreed. "That is very good control."

"Why wouldn't she be able to do that?" Duo said proudly, forgetting that he was supposed to be admonishing Jett. "If she can selectively control her frequency, why not the pressure waves she produces?"

Heero folded his arms. "We're all very proud of Jett," he said sternly, "but that does not mean she isn't getting in trouble for shouting people over."

Jett hung her head. "I'm sorry."

"That's better." Heero patted her on the head.

"That's it?" Quatre said. "You're a pretty easy Dad, Heero."

"She apologized."

"Right."

The euphoria after the Gryffindor victory lasted only until everyone realized that it was now time to study for exams. While Harry would normally be found studying with his friends in the Gryffindor common room, sometimes he would go with Roku and study in the Gundam pilots' sitting room for a change of pace. Hermione was getting rather frantic as exams neared and Ron was very gloomy, so sometimes Harry just found it more relaxing to spend time with someone else. He and Roku would usually study until just before lights out and then walk back to Gryffindor tower for bed.

"We're late!" Harry said worriedly as they hurried back one evening a few days after the Quidditch final. "We'll miss lights out!"

"That's ok. We'll just get yelled at."

"You don't care about getting yelled at?"

Roku shrugged. "It doesn't hurt and it makes the grownups feel better. Sometimes I'll do stuff just so they have a reason to yell at me. It's good for them. It relieves their stress."

Harry stared. "You're really weird."

Roku grinned. "I know."

"Well, if it isn't the annoying Harry Potter out roaming the halls after hours!"

Harry cringed at the sound of that smooth supercilious voice. "It's not after hours yet, Mr. Malfoy," he retorted hotly.

"Perhaps." Lucius Malfoy sneered. "But I imagine you are still up to no good."

"We've just been studying and now we're going to bed," Harry snapped. "If you'll please excuse us!" He stomped past Lucius with an angry glower on his face.

Lucius' superior laugh wafted after them as he continued on his way down a staircase.

"I loathe that man," Harry growled under his breath.

"He is kind of irritating."

Harry stopped abruptly. "What… What's that?!" he exclaimed in alarm, pointing a shaking finger at a long, thin shape that was sliding along the base of the wall ahead of them.

"Oh, there you are!" Roku said. He strolled over and casually picked up what appeared to be a long snake.

"Is that a snake?" Harry asked. He moved closer.

"It's Papa Trowa's staff. He's been looking for it for days now."

The snake blinked at Roku and then turned to Harry. "Good evening, Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you at last," the staff hissed.

"How do you know who I am?" Harry unconsciously hissed back.

"One cannot live in Hogwarts and not know about you," the staff replied. "The girls often talk about you in their dorm rooms at night."

"They do?"

"Oh, yes."

"Wait a minute! What were you doing in girls' dorm rooms?"

The snake flicked its tongue out in a hissy chuckle. "Where else would I go to see them undressed? There were too many bubbles in the bathing rooms."

Harry's cheeks turned bright red. "You… were... looking at naked girls?"

"Ah, yes!" the snake sighed. "It is my favorite pastime."

"So what are you doing out in the hall?"

"Changing dorms, of course. It occurred to me that the Slytherin girls might not be afraid of a snake. They might even enjoy cuddling up with one."

Harry's cheeks flushed red again. "The Slytherin dorm is in the dungeon."

"So I recently learned," the staff hissed. "I was following a youth in Slytherin garb when he was taken aside and punished by an older man. So now I am trying to find it on my own. You wouldn't happen to know the way?"

"Just keep going down. I'm sure you'll find it." Then Harry paused. "You said you saw a kid in Slytherin robes getting beat up by a man?"

"Yes. Back there." The staff pointed its nose toward a hallway they had just passed and wriggled out of Roku's hands. "Tell my master I will return in another few days."

"Uh, ok."

The staff slithered off, humming quietly to itself.

"You speak good snake," Roku said.

"I guess so." Harry looked down the hall. "The snake said some Slytherin was beaten up back there. We should probably go look and make sure he's all right."

"Ok."

Harry and Roku went to the hallway the staff had pointed out and started down. It was quite dark and Harry's steps naturally slowed, but Roku strode along confidently.

"It's Draco," Roku said. "He's at the end of the hall."

"Oh." Harry scowled. "Maybe we should just leave him, then."

"He's crying."

"What?!"

"He's crying," Roku repeated. "And I smell blood."

"Blood?!" Without thinking, Harry hurried down the hall, running one hand along the wall so he could tell where he was going.

There was a window at the end of the hall and there was just enough light to make out Draco huddled against the wall underneath the window, his head buried in his arms.

"Are you all right, Malfoy?" Harry put a tentative hand on Draco's shoulder.

Draco immediately shoved it away. "Come to laugh at me, have you, Potter?" Draco snapped, but his voice shook. "Come to tell me how I can't do anything right, too?"

Harry blinked at Roku. "Is that what your father said?"

Draco's head snapped up. "What do you know about that?! Were you eavesdropping?!"

"No! But someone told us that they saw a kid getting beat up…" Harry trailed off. Even in the dim light, the bruises showed on Draco's pale skin and the trickle of blood from his split lip stood out. "Maybe you should go to the infirmary."

"No!" Draco ducked his head. "I don't want anyone to know." A faint sob escaped him. "But I guess it doesn't matter now. You'll run and tell everyone and I'll be a laughingstock."

Harry frowned. "I won't tell anyone. Are you badly hurt?"

Draco shook his head. "He just smacked me around." He scrubbed his nose with his sleeve, smearing the blood on his lip. "He was angry because I lost the Quidditch match and from before, when we tried to scare you with the fake dementor. He said I was an embarrassment." Draco sniffed and fresh tears spilled from his eyes. "I think he hates me!"

"I doubt that," Harry said, but he threw a confused look at Roku.

Roku shrugged and produced a first aid kit. "Let's clean you up a little."

Draco just sat there while Roku and Harry cleaned his face and bandaged his knuckles where he had skinned them on the wall.

"Now we're all out after hours," Harry said quietly. "If we get caught now, we'll get a detention."

"I don't care," Draco muttered.

"I'll go check," Roku said. "I'll make sure we don't run into anyone." He put the first aid kit away and trotted off down the hall.

Harry held a hand out to Draco. "Let's go."

Draco grabbed his hand, but instead of letting Harry pull him to his feet, he tugged hard and Harry fell into his lap.

"Wha…?" Harry yelped.

"Do you hate me, Harry?" Draco whispered.

"Well… umm…"

"You do, don't you?" Draco's face was just inches from Harry's. "I wish we could be friends," he said quietly. He looked directly into Harry's eyes. "I wish we could be friends the way Roku's parents are friends." And he kissed Harry right on the mouth.

Harry was so stunned he did not even try to get away.

"You two should stop kissing now," Roku said. "We need to go while no one's around."

Harry shoved Draco away and scrambled to his feet. "We're not kissing!"

"Oh?" said Roku. "That looked an awful lot like kissing the way your lips were touching and all."

"It wasn't!" Harry exclaimed and he raced off down the hall.

Roku sighed. "He's going to get caught making that much noise. Maybe you shouldn't have kissed him out of the blue like that."

Draco twisted his hands together. "I don't know why I did that."

"You like him. That's pretty obvious."

"It is?" Draco's flush made his bruises stand out even more.

"Well, it is to me. Come on. I'll walk you back to your dorm so you don't get caught."

"Shouldn't you make sure Harry doesn't get caught?"

"Too late." Roku grinned. "He just ran into Professor McGonagall."


	16. Gift

Chapter 16: **Gift**

"I want to meet Gift!" Alexa exclaimed loudly, stamping her foot.

"Me, too!" Jett cried and the lamps rattled.

Heero gave her a stern look and turned to Quatre. "We can't all go trooping out into the woods to look for Gift," he said. "Why can't you just go get him and bring him here?"

"He might not want to come."

"He'll come if you ask him, Mama," Roku said. "I think he's scared of you."

"And well he should be," Duo muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

"That might be better in the long run," Trowa said. "With the appeal so close, I'm not sure I can get Hagrid to leave right now."

"And I have to study for finals," Roku added.

"Study?!" Duo snorted. "You already know everything."

"But I like studying with Harry and he doesn't already know everything."

"You are very thoughtful," Hadeya said.

Roku grinned.

"Oh, very well," Quatre said. "I'll go get him. I've already planned the final exam for my class anyway."

"Yay!" Alexa and Jett cheered. "We get to meet Gift!" The lamps rattled again. Jett ducked her head.

"I'll go tell Harry," Roku said. "I bet he'd like to meet a talking dragon, too."

"I think everyone at Hogwarts will want to meet a talking dragon," Treize said. "From what I've heard, the dragons of this time are just dumb beasts with violent tendencies."

"Sort of like Heero on a bad day," Duo muttered.

"What?!"

"Nothing!"

So early the next morning, Quatre turned into a falcon and swooped out the window of their common room. He found Gift's cave fairly easily and banked in for a landing in the small clearing in front, shimmering back into his own form as he landed.

"Gift! Are you home?"

After a moment, Gift appeared at the mouth of the cave. He blinked at Quatre in complete surprise. "Good day to thee, Sorcerer!" Gift rumbled. A trickle of smoke curled out of one nostril. "I must confess thou art the last person I expected to see this morning."

"I imagine so," Quatre said. "I was wondering if you had time for a visit. We have new members of our family who would like to meet you, along with a few others."

"A social call?" Gift chuckled. "Such an invitation is seldom extended to a dragon by one such as thee. Methinks I must accommodate you for the sheer novelty of the request." He slithered all the way out of the cave and flared his wings. "In truth, I have been awake but a few seasons and am still somewhat sleepy. Pleasant conversation and perhaps a fight or two would be most welcome. Tell me, are thy companions Chang Wu-Fei and Heero Yuy still with thee?"

"Yes and I am sure they would be happy to engage you in a sparring match or two."

Gift's forked tongue flicked out between his sharp teeth. "That is a pleasing thought. Lead the way, Sorcerer."

Quatre shimmered back into a falcon and leaped into the sky. Gift followed with a mighty flap of his wide wings. They arrived back at Hogwarts at mid-morning under a brilliant sky with klaxons blaring from the castle spires. Several teachers, including Hagrid, rushed out onto the lawn outside the castle entrance to meet this new threat while students peered out excitedly. Quatre landed in front of Gift and shifted back into his own form.

"There's nothing to be alarmed about!" Quatre called out. "This dragon is a friend of mine."

"A friend?" Dumbledore asked, his brow wrinkled. "Dragons are dangerous creatures…"

"Gift isn't dangerous," Quatre said quickly.

"Indeed?" Dumbledore eyed the handsome dragon curiously.

"Excuse me," Professor McGonagall interrupted with a frown. "Are you an animagus, Professor Winner?"

"Oh." Quatre looked sheepish. "You might say that."

"And your animal form is a falcon?"

"Yes, that's right." Quatre blinked several times.

Roku, Alexa, Jett and the other Gundam pilots came out onto the lawn and joined Quatre and Gift.

"Hello, Gift!" Roku greeted the dragon. "How have you been? Have you been awake long? You remember everybody, right? But you haven't met Alexa, Jett or Hadeya. Alexa is Treize and Zechs daughter. Jett is my sister but Papa Duo is her Mama and everybody else is her Papa. Hadeya is Papa Heero's son. His mother is the goddess Freya but you probably haven't met her. We came to Hogwarts so I could study magic with Harry Potter. Have you heard of him? He's kind of famous. It's really great to see you! Did you ever meet that female dragon?"

Gift blinked. "Thy capacity for speech leaves one breathless!"

Dead silence fell and all of the teachers and students within hearing stared with their mouths open.

"Did I not mention that part?" Quatre asked. "Gift can talk."

"Lordy!" Hagrid exclaimed to Trowa, a reverent expression on his face, "when yer told me that yeh knew a talking dragon, I thought maybe it was just yer ability that let yeh talk to 'im!"

"Is this some kind of sorcery of yours, Professor Winner?" Snape said with a disbelieving sniff. He made the title 'Professor' sound like an insult.

Gift snorted smoke out of both nostrils. "It takes no sorcery for a dragon to speak! We are God's greatest creation so any meager talent possessed by a lowly creature like thee flowers that much the greater in dragons!"

Snape's eyes opened wide and his face turned bright red.

Several students crowded out through the entrance. Harry, Ron and Hermione approached Gift nervously. A panicked-looking Draco crept along behind them, gesturing sharply for Crabbe and Goyle to follow him, but the plump boys hung back, leaving Draco to creep forward on his own.

"This is amazing!" Ron exclaimed. "Charlie will never believe it! He's been working with dragons for years and never met any that could talk!"

"That does not surprise me," Gift rumbled. He lowered his head to peer at Ron. "These modern dragons are a diminished breed. I attribute it to inbreeding."

"Inbreeding?"

"Aye." Gift settled onto his belly and crossed his forelegs. "I blame men."

"Men?" Ron scratched his head. "Why?"

"I suspect men of interbreeding with dragons. It is the only way I can account for their decreased mental capacity and short tempers."

Ron blinked several times. "Men… interbreeding… with dragons?" he stammered. "But how?"

Gift pointed a clawed finger at Quatre. "Ask him."

Quatre started. "Me? I know nothing about it. I did not engage in any breeding programs in the past."

"Note how he says 'in the past'," Zechs remarked sourly.

"I did notice that," Treize replied.

"However," Gift said with a sly grin, "is your son not a tiger?"

"Well…" Quatre flushed. "That's true, but what has that to do with anything?"

Gift shrugged. "I merely note the precedent."

"Gift would make a good lawyer," Duo said.

"While you make a valid point," Trowa interrupted, "we had nothing specifically to do with dragons and men possibly interbreeding."

"Using the words 'specifically' and 'possibly' does not entirely exempt us from involvement," Wu-Fei pointed out. "You should make a more definitive statement like 'We had nothing to do with it' or 'Men cannot interbreed with dragons'."

"Well," Trowa rubbed his chin. "I'm not positive men cannot interbreed with dragons, but I'm pretty sure we had nothing to do with it if it did happen."

"Once again," Wu-Fei said, "I must point out that 'pretty sure' lacks conviction."

"One moment," Dumbledore spoke up. "Noble Dragon, you referred to modern dragons as being inferior. May I take that to imply that you are ancient?"

Gift dipped his head in the affirmative. "That is so, Master Sorcerer. I have existed for centuries, but I admit to spending a goodly portion of my time asleep."

"I see."

Gift turned to Wu-Fei. "What ho, Chang Wu-Fei! What say thee to a brief sparring match? Methinks a good match would shake the cobwebs out of my brain from my long sleep."

Wu-Fei's eyes lit up. "A match? That sounds great! Hey, Roku! You have my katana don't you?"

"Yes, Papa Wu-Fei." Roku produced the slender blade from under his left arm.

A flurry of exclamations greeted the appearance of Wu-Fei's sword.

"Where did you get that?" McGonagall said sternly. "It is strictly forbidden for a student to carry a weapon on campus!"

Roku blinked. "I was just storing it for Papa Wu-Fei, Professor."

"Storing it where?" Snape snarled. He glowered at Roku. "I will not allow such items to be brought into my classroom!"

"Relax, Snape," Professor Lupin said. He smiled at Roku. "I'm sure Mr. Winner would never brandish a weapon in class."

"He doesn't need to!" Duo snorted.

McGonagall squinted at Roku. "Are you storing any other weapons for your family, Mr. Winner?"

"Well…" Roku licked his lips. "I might have one or two other items in storage, like Papa Heero's armor. He's a knight, you know."

"A knight?!" McGonagall exclaimed.

"Yeah, he was knighted by King Arthur."

As one, every Gundam pilot in the group put his hand over his face. Quatre groaned.

McGonagall stared. "Do you mean _the_ King Arthur?"

"Um hmm. He didn't really have a round table, you know."

"That's ridiculous!" Snape shouted. "None of you could have been alive in the time of King Arthur!"

"You're absolutely right, Professor Snape!" Quatre said quickly. "Just forget he ever said anything."

Dumbledore's eyes were gleaming. "Yes, it would be insane to consider that such a thing might be possible," he said, but the grin on his face rather belied that statement.

"Enough talk!" Gift interrupted. "Time to fight." He stood up and backed up several paces to make room.

Wu-Fei strolled out in front of him, swinging his katana casually. "Please forgive me if I'm a little rusty. I've been teaching for the past few months and I confess to having not been practicing enough."

"I, too, am out of shape," Gift replied. "Let us begin slowly."

"Very well." Wu-Fei slid into a fighting stance with his left arm extended over his bent left knee and with his right arm curved above his head, his katana pointed toward Gift. Gift crouched down, his tail curled up over his back and his wings slightly extended. They held that pose for the space of three heartbeats and then leaped at each other with loud battle cries.

"That's going slow?!" Ron cried. His head whipped from side to side as he tried to follow the action.

"We should back up," Duo said casually. "They'll probably start using fire any minute now."

Right on cue, Gift shot a thin jet of fire at Wu-Fei. Wu-Fei rolled to avoid it and shot a blast of fire back. Gift ducked under the flame and tried to catch Wu-Fei with a blow from his tail. Wu-Fei leaped over the lashing tail, executing a flip with a half-turn in mid-air so he could slash the top of Gift's tail as he went by. Gift bellowed in pain and smacked Wu-Fei with a wing. Wu-Fei tumbled across the grass but landed on his feet. He charged forward, ducked under a swipe of sharp claws and slashed Gift across the chest. Gift cuffed him soundly with his other front foot right in the middle of his back in return and a gasp went up from the crowd.

"He'll be fine," Duo said. "His scales will protect him."

"Scales?" Ron's eyes were round as saucers.

An excited cheer went up as Wu-Fei rolled clear of Gift's claws and came up with his sword at the ready. Wu-Fei was sweaty and panting and Gift's sides were heaving.

"A good skirmish, Chang Wu-Fei!" Gift called out. "We have pricked each other a bit."

Wu-Fei nodded. "That last blow knocked some of the wind out of me."

"I am well pleased," Gift said. He folded his wings and let his tail drop to the ground. "We should do this again, or perhaps Sir Heero would like a go." Gift flicked his tongue in Heero's direction. "I recall that gentleman gave me a satisfactory contest as well."

"I might have time for that," Heero said, sounding rather pleased.

Jett trotted across the grass to stare up at Gift. "May I touch your wing, Mr. Dragon?"

"Of course, little one." Gift folded a wing down so Jett could slide her fingers over the tough skin.

"It's so smooth!"

"That is to facilitate flight," Gift acknowledged.

Alexa came over to touch Gift's wing and after that several students and teachers crowded forward to examine Gift more closely, although not everyone was brave enough to touch him. But Hagrid, Harry, Ron and Hermione were among those who were. Excitedly, they slid their fingers over the smooth scales and remarked on how something so hard could feel smooth and soft at the same time. Gift endured the examination with good humor.

Ron noticed Draco hanging at the rear of the group and an evil grin spread over his face. "I say, _Draco_," he exclaimed loudly, "with your name meaning dragon, I would have thought you would be the first to want to make a closer acquaintance with Gift."

Draco scowled. "I can see just fine from here."

"Oh?" Ron snickered. "Are you sure you're not afraid?"

"I'm not afraid!" Draco snapped instantly and he pushed forward to the front of the group. He stopped directly in front of Gift and stared defiantly into the dragon's large eyes.

Gift blinked. "Thou art named for the mighty race of dragons, puny youth?"

Draco flinched as Gift's hot breath washed over him but he held his ground. "That's right. I'm Draco Malfoy. Our family is one of the oldest and finest families in the wizarding world."

"Indeed?" Gift scratched his chin with a sharp claw. "I have not heard of thee."

Ron snickered again and Draco threw him an angry look.

Gift chose that moment to reach out and grasp Draco by one shoulder and lift him from the ground. His long sharp claws dug into Draco's shoulder but did not puncture his skin.

"Wha…? " Draco yelped in panic.

Gift held the frightened boy up close to his face. "An old family that names a child for dragons might be responsible for the decline in dragons," he said suspiciously. "Perhaps I should call on thy household and question thine elders."

"That sounds like a good idea," Ron said with a firm nod. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"My family has nothing to do with dragons!" Draco cried. "Put me down!"

"Thou doest seem a tad squeaky."

"I didn't squeak!" Draco squeaked.

"That was a little piercing," Trowa murmured.

"Jett could do better," Roku said.

"You mean like this?" Jett squealed.

Everyone clapped their hands over their ears and Gift shot out a small jet of flame, singeing Draco's robes.

"Ah!" Draco cried, patting desperately at the smoldering patches.

Heero clapped a stern hand onto Jett's shoulder. "None of that, young lady!"

"Sorry."

"Gift, please put Draco down before you set him on fire," Quatre said.

Gift set Draco back on his feet. "My apologies, puny youth."

"Stop calling me puny youth!"

"Thou art quite small."

"So is everyone else compared to you!"

"That is a valid point."

Draco clenched his fists.

Ron snickered again.

Hagrid smacked his big hand down onto Trowa's shoulder, nearly sending the young man to his knees. "This here's the best thing I e'er did see and that's a fact!" he exclaimed. "I would ne'er have imagined it and all." He wiped a tear from his eye and shook his shaggy head. "A talking dragon! Just imagine it!"

"Why imagine?" Duo whispered. "He's right there."

"It's a turn of phrase," Wu-Fei whispered back.

Professor McGonagall finally clapped her hands. "I think that's quite enough for now, students. I think all of you have studying to do and we professors have exams to prepare. Everyone should get back to work."

"But Professor…!" came a general moan from dozens of throats, not all of them students.

She clapped her hands firmly again. "Now, please!"

"Aw, man!"

With many people mostly walking backward, the crowd slowly began drifting back into the castle. The Gundam pilots remained behind.

"This was most entertaining," Gift said. "I thank thee for inviting me, Master Sorcerer."

"You're welcome," Quatre said. "How long do you think you'll hang around?"

"Well, I was hoping for another sparring match with Sir Heero," Gift said, blowing a thin stream of smoke in Heero's direction.

Heero grinned. "Didn't you say you have my armor, Roku? Could you get out my broadsword?"

"Sure." Roku pulled the heavy-bladed weapon from under his arm.

Heero grasped the leather-bound grip firmly and gave it a few experimental swings.

"You know," said Quatre, "I don't even think I can lift that thing."

"You're so delicate," Duo said.

Quatre pursed his lips. "Oh? Are you sure that's the phrasing you want to use?"

Duo blinked. "By delicate, of course, I meant refined and graceful."

"I see."

"Good save," Treize murmured.

Heero and Gift stepped away from the others.

"We'll just battle a few rounds," Heero said.

Sometime later, when the sun was sinking below the horizon and the torches had been lit in the castle, Heero dropped to one knee, breathing heavily.

"I think I'm getting a little tired," he admitted.

Gift's head was drooping close to the ground. "Methinks I am ready to call it a day also."

Sitting in a line against the base of the castle wall, the other Gundam pilots and their kids exchanged long looks.

"About damn time!" Duo announced. He stood up. "It's dinner time and we've just about cleaned out Roku's storage space."

"Hmm," said Gift. "I am a little hungry myself."

"We'll have the kitchen send out a couple sides of beef," Duo said.

"My thanks." Gift settled down onto his belly. "Doest thou think anyone would mind if I spent the night on this spot?"

"Naw," Duo waved a hand. "And if you see any guys in long black robes with icy cold breath, just set 'em on fire."

"Dementor flambé," Trowa murmured.

"Doesn't sound appetizing," Treize said.

"I know Wu-Fei wouldn't eat it," said Zechs.

"Hey!"

"But Duo might," Treize replied.

"Hey!"

"Roku would say they taste like moldy ghost," Quatre muttered.

"Hunh…" Roku said thoughtfully.

"Don't even think about it!"

"I wasn't!"

"Right."

"Let's go eat!" Alexa interrupted.

"Yeah!" Jett exclaimed.

Everybody winced.

"Oops."

"Good night, Gift," Quatre said and he pointedly started shoving people toward the torch-lit entrance.


	17. We Veer Back into the Story

Chapter 17: **We Veer Back into the Story**

"Professor Dumbledore!" Snape exclaimed loudly. "This is most unacceptable! There is a _dragon_ sleeping on our front lawn!"

"Yes, I know!" Dumbledore replied with a faint giggle. "It's exciting, isn't it?"

"I don't think he's asleep yet," Hagrid added with a happy smile. "I just dropped off two sides of beef and a couple of lamb shanks fer 'im to snack on."

"Is that a good idea?" Professor Flitwick said nervously. "Feeding a wild animal only encourages it to stay."

"Gift's not a wild animal," Quatre said.

"But my point is still valid," Flitwick countered in his high voice. "Children come and go through that gate."

"Gift doesn't eat humans," Quatre said.

"Most of the time," Heero muttered under his breath.

Quatre smacked his arm. "Anyway," he continued with a glare for Heero, "Gift will go home in the morning. He just stopped by to say hello."

"Ain't that somethin'?" Hagrid boomed. "A dragon stoppin' by ter say hello!" He giggled happily.

Snape's mouth worked silently for a moment. "Professor Dumbledore!" he finally shouted. "What are you going to do about this?"

"Well, actually, I was thinking of going back outside after dinner and chatting a bit more with our guest. I'm really quite fascinated."

"Well, I will have no part of this tomfoolery!" Snape exclaimed indignantly and he stalked from the dining hall.

"That's not something you hear every day," Duo remarked.

"What's that?" Wu-Fei asked.

"The word tomfoolery used in a sentence."

"Ah."

In the morning, everyone went outside to see Gift off and then it was time to settle down to the serious business of taking finals. The students in Quatre's wandless magic class were a little alarmed, wondering what kinds of spells Quatre would expect them to perform for their final exam. Only Hermione, who still looked rather high-strung, seemed to be looking forward to it.

"I've been practicing dozens of spells," Hermione said. "I think I'm ready for whatever he might throw at us."

Kitty Tanner, the Hufflepuff girl who had previously turned her own hair green, blinked unhappily. "I don't think I'm ready," she said. "I lose my concentration when I'm nervous."

"You don't want that," Hermione replied. "That's how the worst mistakes happen with wandless magic."

"I know!"

Quatre marched into the room. "All right, students! Take your seats please. Did everyone put their wand in the bucket?" There were a few nods and affirmative responses, along with a lot of guilty looks. Quatre clapped his hands and wands leaped from underneath several robes and zipped to the bucket. He smiled. "There, that's better. Let's begin." He turned to the blackboard and proceeded to write out six phrases in Latin. Three of them were quite long. "Now then, I want you to write down what should happen for each of these spells. You have one hour." He sat down at his desk with a smile.

Anxiously, students pulled out quills, ink and parchment, stared at the blackboard for a moment and then began scribbling furiously.

When the hour was up, Quatre stood up. "All right! Time's up. Please blot your work, roll it up and pass it forward."

Several students had looks of dismay on their faces as they handed in their roll of parchment.

"Now for the practical part of the exam," Quatre said brightly.

A groan swept the students.

"A practical part?!" Percy exclaimed. "There's more?!"

"Of course." Quatre turned to the blackboard, erased it, and wrote out another Latin phrase. "I want each of you to try casting this spell. You should produce a small breeze." He turned back to the class. "Just to be safe, please put everything away in your book bags and put them under your desks." When everyone had done so, Quatre smiled at the student at the left end of the front row. "You're first."

The first few students managed to produce noticeable breezes, but the next two students could not make the air move at all. Hermione produced quite a respectable breeze and then it was Percy's turn. With a dramatic wave of his hand, he pronounced the words of the spell loudly. Immediately, a vicious little dust devil swirled to life, tipped over Percy's desk and blew everyone's robes up as it whirled around the classroom.

"Ah!"

"Look out!"

"Nice underwear!"

"Professor!"

"Wait!" Percy cried.

Quatre put a hand over his face. "Percy, were you thinking of a cyclone, by any chance?"

"No! Um…"

Quatre waved his hand and the dust devil dissipated. "Next."

When it was Kitty Tanner's turn, everyone watched a little apprehensively. Kitty's face was scrunched up as she tried to concentrate, but nearly everyone could tell that her pronunciation was off. Even before she finished speaking, a tiny black cloud formed above her head. Streaks of electricity flickered through the cloud, accompanied by tiny rumbles of thunder, and then the cloud dumped water onto Kitty's head, immediately slicking down her shiny golden hair.

"Oh no!" Kitty wailed. "What happened, Professor?"

"Not again!" someone exclaimed.

The tiny thunderstorm started pitching hailstones into the air and pelting nearby students.

"Ouch!"

"Hey!"

"Languages are just not your skill, Miss Tanner," Quatre said with a sigh. He pointed a finger at the thunderstorm and it disappeared in a shower of water, drenching Kitty completely. "Next."

The rest of the final proceeded without any more major incidents. When the last student completed the exercise, Quatre sighed with relief. "Very good, students," he said. "That completes the final exam. I've enjoyed instructing you this year and I hope you've learned something. Class dismissed."

The students filed out of the room, claiming their wands from the bucket as they went by. Kitty Tanner's shoes squelched as she moved to join the queue.

"One moment, Miss Tanner," Quatre said. He waved a hand at her and a swoosh of air swept across her. In an instant, she was completely dry.

"Oh! Thank you, Professor!"

"Good day, Miss Tanner."

Kitty reclaimed her wand and hurried out of the room.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting experience," Quatre said to himself. "I wonder how Wu-Fei's final will go."

At Wu-Fei's final exam two days later, a roomful of apprehensive students watched as Wu-Fei set a stack of pages on his desk.

"Did Roku write this test?" Evie asked hopefully. She and Susie had spent the last two days picking Roku's brain for any pieces of random information he might contain.

"No," Wu-Fei said. "I wrote this one myself, but it only covers material we've gone over in class." He handed the tests to Hadeya. "Would you pass these out, please, Hadeya? You'll have two hours to complete the test. Use as many rolls of parchment as you need. I've stacked more on the table over there if you need it."

The students stared in horror at the towering stack of parchment.

"This isn't good if he thinks we're going to need all that," Susie whispered to Evie. Hadeya handed her a test and she read the first question. "Oh, god!" she groaned. "I'm going to need more parchment!"

Evie read the first question and hung her head. "I won't. I'm going to totally blow this test."

"Please begin," said Wu-Fei.

For the next two hours, pens scratched furiously over parchment. Piles of scrolls began heaping up around the desks. Hadeya walked around the room handing out fresh scrolls and refilling ink wells so students would not have to get up.

"Five more minutes," Wu-Fei said.

"No!"

"Not yet!"

"I need more time!"

"Argh!"

Quills began moving so fast that bits of feathers started flying from their tops.

Wu-Fei stood up. "All right. Time's up!"

"Ugh!" A deep groan issued from pretty much every throat.

"Please take a few minutes to make sure your name is on all of your scrolls," Wu-Fei added.

"That was the worst final I've ever taken!" Percy groaned. There were at least fifteen scrolls piled up around his feet.

Penelope glared at him. "But I bet you still finished all the questions!"

"Well, yes," Percy replied, utterly clueless. "But it was difficult to get them all answered in sufficient detail."

Penelope's glare darkened. "How troublesome for you," she said acidly.

Percy finally recognized the danger he was in. His face paled. "Well, as Head Boy, it's important that I set an example for other students…"

"Of course!" Penelope snapped. "You're so much more important than the rest of us!"

Percy groaned. "Could we talk about this later, Penny?"

"I'll be busy later," Penelope said loftily and turned her back on him.

Percy buried his face in his hands.

Evie and Susie snickered.

"If your name is on everything, just leave your scrolls where they are," Wu-Fei said. "Hadeya and I will collect them."

With drooping shoulders, the students files out of the classroom.

"Do you think the test was too hard, Uncle Wu-Fei?" Hadeya asked. "Some of the students looked a little overwhelmed."

"Nonsense," Wu-Fei replied. "Roku finished this test in half-an-hour. Admittedly, I did let him type it, so it went a little faster than if he'd been handwriting it." He looked around at the piles of scrolls. "Maybe I'll have him help me grade these. This could take a while." He grinned at Hadeya. "You can help, too."

Hadeya blinked uncertainly at the mounds of parchment. "If you need me to."

"I wonder if I should have told the class that everyone will get a passing grade regardless of how they did on this test." Wu-Fei speculated aloud. "Maybe they would have felt less stress during the exam."

Hadeya stared. "You're not going to base their grades on the test? Then why grade the exams?"

"For their edification, of course," Wu-Fei said. "I'm sure they'll all want to know how much they've learned this year. But since they are magic students, it wouldn't do to affect their overall marks with a rather unrelated class."

Hadeya shook his head. "I think you might not want to tell them that. I don't think your scales will protect you from magical attacks."

In their suite that evening, Roku was once again playing Chutes and Ladders with Alexa and Jett, using, unfortunately, a completely new set of playing pieces.

"Aren't those new playing pieces?" Zechs asked Quatre quietly.

"I don't want to know."

"Quite a few of them seem to have escaped."

"I'm not talking about it."

"Ignoring a situation doesn't make it go away."

"Yes it does."

"Are you really a Gundam pilot?"

"I could kick your butt."

"Hm…" Duo murmured. "Blond on blond. I want to see that."

"Keep it in your pants, pervert," Heero grumbled.

"I just want to watch!"

"That's how it starts," Wu-Fei muttered.

"You interested?"

"No!"

"Let's go bathe!"

"I'm not taking my clothes off anywhere near you when you have that look in your eye," Wu-Fei replied archly.

"Don't you need oiling?" Duo fixed an innocent stare on Wu-Fei.

"Gah! Keep your itch-inducing thoughts out of my head! Heero!"

"Don't bother me. I'm reading."

"But…!"

"Just go bathe with him, for crying out loud, so the rest of us can have some peace and quiet!"

"Yay!" Duo pounced on Wu-Fei.

"I'm busy!" Wu-Fei protested futilely as Duo dragged him out the door.

"How are your finals going, Roku?" Trowa asked as if nothing had just happened.

"Fine. I only have one more."

"I trust you've been avoiding using regular magic and sticking with your wand."

"Of course! I'm getting really good at it. Wanna see?" Roku pulled out his wand, pointed it at a chair, and intoned a spell. A thin blast of light shot from his wand and hit the chair. The chair jumped and made a high, squeaking noise. Then it began to wander around the room on legs that had become flexible, bumping into people and tables.

Quatre gave him a look. "That seems like a less than useful application of magic."

But Alexa and Jett had both jumped to their feet. "A walking chair!" they cried in unison and leaped onto its padded seat gleefully. They discovered at once that they could guide the chair's movements by pushing and pulling on its arms.

Roku looked a little smug. "It can do stairs."

"Let's go!" Alexa immediately cried and they guided the chair toward the door. Treize opened it so they could go out, although it took them a few tries to line it up right so it would fit.

"I'll keep an eye on them," Treize said and followed the two giggling girls in their walking chair.

Quatre sighed and went back to grading his final exams.

"I suppose you're going to ignore that, too," Zechs remarked.

"Ignore what?" Quatre replied.

Zechs shook his head and turned to Roku. "Now you don't have anyone to play with."

"That's ok." Roku shifted into tiger form. "I'll go chase ghosts." He trotted out the still open door.

Hadeya suddenly looked up from the table where he was hunched over Wu-Fei's final exams. "Hey! Wait a minute! Who is going to help me with these?!"

Zechs sighed. "I'll help you. Underneath my totally hot exterior, I am very well educated."

"Isn't that a little immodest?" Quatre asked sourly.

"I only speak the truth."

"You're totally hot, too," Trowa said with a grin.

Quatre blushed. "Do you mind? I'm trying to grade papers."

"Need help? I could give you a massage to help you focus. Your buttocks look tense."

"You can't see my buttocks!"

"But you've been sitting all afternoon. I'm sure you could use a nice, relaxing butt massage. I'll use warm oil."

"You're as bad as Duo," Heero said.

"Not all the time."

"I'm busy!" Quatre said loudly.

"You can finish that tomorrow. Let's go in our bedroom."

"Trowa!"

"Please?"

"Argh! Fine! But no weird positions." Quatre paused. "Well, unless it's that last one. That was pretty good."

Trowa grinned.

When the door closed behind them, Heero smiled. "Isn't this nice? It's so quiet and relaxing."

"It won't last," Zechs predicted.

"That's why I'm going to milk it for all it's worth," Heero said. He settled more deeply into his chair with his book.

Out in the halls, Roku crouched down at a corner, his tail swishing mischievously. Around the corner, a group of unsuspecting ghosts were talking, mostly saying unflattering things about Nearly Headless Nick for being, well, nearly headless instead of completely headless. Roku waited until the ghosts started to drift past his hallway and then he pounced, catching a visiting admirer of the Headless Hunt under both front paws.

"Ah!" the ghost cried. "Save me!"

But with terrifying shrieks, the other ghosts scattered, plunging through the walls and abandoning Roku's victim to his fate.

"You shouldn't say mean things about Nick," Roku growled threateningly. "I can bite your head off if you think being completely headless is so great." He caught the ghost's head between his jaws.

"NO!" the ghost wailed. "I don't want to lose my head!"

"'m sur u ca' kee' tra' o' i'," Roku mumbled rather unclearly, munching the ghost's head rather thoroughly in the process.

"Roku, what are you doing?" Harry stopped where he had just come around the corner, staring in surprise.

"'e insul'd 'ick," Roku mumbled.

"What?"

Roku spit out the ghost's head. "He insulted Nick."

"How is it that you can even touch him?!"

Roku giggled. "It's pretty easy. Anyway, should I rip his head off? He did insult our house ghost."

"No!" the ghost wailed again and it struggled to escape, trying to sink into the floor, but Roku's sharp claws had it pinned.

Harry shook his head. "I don't think Nick would approve. You better let him go."

"Oh, all right." Roku backed off and the ghost zoomed away, blasting through the nearest wall with a lingering wail. Roku giggled again. "That was fun! Let's play!"

"Play what?" Harry asked suspiciously. "We have a final tomorrow."

"Tiger hunt! You can be the prey and I'll be the tiger."

"What kind of game is that?!"

"It's fun! You run and I'll chase you."

"That's not a game!"

"Sure it is!" Roku dropped his chest to the floor so his rump was stuck up in the air. His tail lashed back and forth. "Get ready; I'm going to pounce."

"What?!"

"One… two…"

"No!" Harry wailed, sounding an awful lot like Roku's last victim, and he took off running. Roku gave him a ten second head start and then took off after him. Harry looked back over his shoulder, his eyes going round. Even knowing that the tiger chasing him was Roku did not diminish the visceral fear of being chased by a two hundred pound cat. He put on an extra burst of speed and promptly collided head-on with Draco Malfoy. Both boys went down in a heap and a second later, Roku was on them, his great tiger tongue slathering them liberally with slimy doses of tiger spit.

"Augh!" Draco shrieked. "He's trying to eat us!"

"No, he isn't," Harry said, trying desperately to protect his glasses. "But we'll need baths after this, dammit! Yuck! Roku! Stop!"

Roku stopped, laughing maniacally. "That was fun! Run some more!" He bounced off the two boys and Draco immediately took off in a panic. "Yay!" Roku cried and he dashed after the fleeing Slytherin.

"Draco!" Harry shouted. "Don't run!" He ran after them, but Draco was running as hard as he could and Harry could barely keep up. Roku, of course, was running just fast enough to keep Draco moving.

"Help me! Ah!" Draco cried as he ran, but in his panic, he was running into a section of the castle that was virtually unpopulated. Dust flew up where his feet smacked the floor and he finally slipped trying to round a corner. As he slid to a stop, Roku landed on top of him, plastering Draco's fair hair to his head with long swipes of his tongue.

Harry leaped on top of them. "Stop it, Roku! You're going to give him a heart attack!"

Draco was curled up in a ball, whimpering.

Roku stopped licking. "Don't be scared, Draco. I wouldn't really hurt you."

Draco lifted his head. His face was streaked with tiger spit and what looked suspiciously like tears. "But you tried when you chased me back from Hogsmeade that time!"

"Oh, that. I was just giving Harry time to get back to town. I wasn't going to bite you. Mama would be very angry with me if I did that. I don't like to make Mama angry. He gets scary." Roku shifted back into human form. "Is this better?"

Draco nodded mutely and sat up. He scrubbed a hand across his face. "It's pretty scary getting chased by a tiger."

"And slimy," Harry added. He regarded his streaked glasses in disgust. "I need a bath."

Draco started to touch his sopping hair and grimaced. "Me, too."

"Then let's go take one," Roku suggested. "I love bathing."

"All together?" Draco's cheeks turned pink under their layer of tiger slime.

"Why not?" Harry said. "I've bathed with little girls. A couple of guys is nothing."

"I guess so."

The three of them found the nearest bathing room and went in. It was unoccupied at the moment, so they quickly stripped out of their clothes and plunged into the hot water.

Draco dipped his head under the water to rinse his hair. "What's in that spit of yours, Roku? My hair feels pounds lighter now."

Roku chuckled. "You think my slobber is bad? You should meet Fenrir. He could make lakes of the stuff."

"Fenrir?"

"One of Loki's offspring. He's a giant dog and he's very friendly, so he slobbers on everything, especially people."

Draco stared. "You're talking about mythical creatures."

"They aren't mythical. They just don't exist in this dimension anymore."

"I don't think my father would approve," Draco said uncertainly.

"Your father doesn't approve of anything," Harry grumbled.

Draco flinched. "Well, it's hard to uphold the family's good name and standards."

"If you want to call it that."

"Our family is pure-blooded…" Draco began hotly.

"Oh, stop arguing," Roku interrupted. "Why don't you kiss and make up?"

"WHAT?!" both boys exclaimed in unison.

Roku grinned. "Got you! Now let's play mobile suit attack, melee version." And he dived under the water.

"Oh, no!" Harry cried. "Watch out, Malfoy!"

But it was too late. Roku yanked Draco underwater and the startled Slytherin yet out a frightened yelp that turned into a loud gurgle. Mobile suit attack had begun.


	18. The Shrieking Shack

_**Warning**__ – Adherents to the story/movie timeline beware! Yeah, I read the book, but now I'm totally pitching it out the window. These Harry Potter characters are now my evil prisoners! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!_

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 18: **The Shrieking Shack **

The end of finals was a celebratory time for most students, but Harry, Ron and Hermione were very upset. The minister of magic, Cornelius Fudge, arrived at the castle with a prosecutor, ostensibly to hear Buckbeak's appeal, but since he also brought an executioner, it was pretty clear which way the appeal was going to go. Hagrid was devastated and urged the children to stay away, but the three would have none of that. Using Harry's invisibility cloak, they planned to sneak down to Hagrid's hut to see if there was anything they could do. They hid near the front hall and waited until everyone was gone before sneaking out, the invisibility cloak thrown over their heads.

"Where are you going?"

The three youngsters, on their way out the door, nearly leaped out of their skins.

"Roku!" Harry exclaimed. "Don't scare us like that! And how did you know we were here?"

Roku shrugged. "I can smell you, remember? So where are you going?"

"To see Hagrid," Harry said. "We think they're going to execute Buckbeak tonight and we have to stop them somehow."

"May I come with you?"

"We can't fit anyone else under here," Ron said.

"That's ok. No one will notice me." Roku shifted into the shape of a brown owl and flew out the door.

"He makes that look so easy!" Ron complained.

The three of them hurried after Roku, trying not to trip each other as they dashed along in a bunch.

At Hagrid's cabin, Hagrid was glad to see them, but he also urged them to leave. "It's 'opeless," he moaned. "Yeh don' wan' ter see this."

Roku, who had changed back to his human form, gazed out the window. "That's interesting," he murmured. Then he ducked. An instant later, one of Hagrid's ceramic pots shattered, revealing the emaciated, mangy-looking form of Ron's rat Scabbers.

"Scabbers!" Ron cried. He scooped the rat up quickly before it could escape and shoved it inside his pocket.

"I told you Crookshanks didn't eat him!" Hermione declared, a little triumphantly.

"That doesn't matter," said Harry. "We have to do something about Buckbeak!"

"Too late!" Hagrid groaned. "They're here. You kids have teh get out o' here." He shooed them out the back door, where they hid in the pumpkin patch until the men were inside. Then they set out for the castle with sinking hearts.

"We can't let them do this!" Hermione cried. "We just can't!"

Above their heads, once more an owl, Roku floated along on soundless wings. "Don't worry," he hooted. "It's going to be all right."

But just as he spoke, they all heard the sound of the executioner's axe fall with a loud thunk.

"No!" Hermione cried.

They all stopped and stared at each other. Then Ron began to squirm as Scabbers began struggling in his pocket. After that, several things happened very fast. Scabbers escaped Ron's pocket and made a run for it with Crookshanks, who had appeared out of the shadows, hard on its heels. With a shout, Ron threw off the invisibility cloak and took off after them. Hermione and Harry raced after Ron, shouting for him to come back. Roku flew soundlessly above their heads. When Harry and Hermione caught up with Ron, he had recaptured Scabbers. But before the three could get back under the invisibility cloak, a large black dog charged them, knocking Harry down. Ron jumped in the way before the dog could attack again and, to everyone's surprise, it dragged him away by the arm.

"Ron!" Harry cried, but when he tried to follow, he was knocked off his feet by a flying branch of the Whomping Willow.

"Ouch!" Hermione cried as she was clipped by another branch.

Roku dropped to the ground out of range of the tree and shimmered into tiger form. "That's Sirius Black."

"What?!" Harry exclaimed, but he did not appear to be listening. He and Hermione were trying to figure out how to get to the trunk of the tree, where the black dog had just dragged Ron into a hole at its base.

Duo jogged up to them from out of the darkness. "Hey guys, did you see a big black dog go by just now?"

"Yes," Roku replied. "That dog is Sirius Black. He just dragged Ron Weasley under that tree, but we can't get close because of the branches."

"So that dog is Sirius Black, eh?" Duo said. "That explains a lot."

"Explains what?"

"The weird way he sounds. I kept hearing what I thought were someone's thoughts but it would turn to muttering or something and I could never make it out. It felt really odd, so I've been trying to find who it is. Then just a few minutes ago, I heard it again and realized it was coming from that dog. So I was following him."

"He didn't notice you?"

"He seemed really intent on something. I kept upwind of him and he never heard me. But since you say he attacked Ron, that must have been what he was concentrating on."

"Look!" Hermione cried, pointing. Her cat Crookshanks was snaking along the ground below the range of the Whomping Willow's whipping branches. The cat reached the tree and leaned on a protruding knot. To everyone's surprise, the tree stopped moving.

"That's it!" Harry cried. "Let's go!"

The group charged forward just as Crookshanks slithered into the hole in the base of the tree. Harry, Hermione, Roku and Duo followed and entered a low damp tunnel.

"I'll go first!" Roku cried gleefully and he scampered down the tunnel, his low-slung tiger form fitting easily into the passage. Everyone else had to hunch over and scurry along as best they could. When the passage ended, they crawled out into an old room populated by rickety broken furniture, spider webs and dust. "This way!" Roku called and he bounded up the stairs and along the hall to the only room showing a light.

Harry had his wand out as soon as he charged into the room. "Get away from Ron!" he cried dramatically, but it was sort of pointless because Roku already had a filthy, scruffy-looking man pinned to the floor several feet away from Ron. Ron was huddled against the side of an ornate four-poster bed, pale and sweating as he clutched his obviously broken leg.

"Wait!" the man cried, "Just let me kill him first! Then you may do whatever you like with me!"

"I'm not going to let you kill Ron!" Harry shouted.

"Not him!" Sirius exclaimed. He struggled to escape Roku's hold. "Pettigrew! He's responsible for your parents' deaths!"

"You're lying!"

"Let's listen to him first. I think he might be telling the truth" said Professor Lupin. The rather emaciated Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor stepped through the open door, his wand at the ready.

"Took you long enough to get here," Duo remarked calmly from where he was leaning against the wall just inside the door.

"I'm sorry," Lupin said. "I didn't know you were expecting me."

"I heard you coming."

"Indeed?" Remus blinked at him. "I thought I was being stealthy."

Duo tapped the side of his head. "You need to hold your thoughts in when you're sneaking."

"You're a telepath?"

"Yup."

"Excuse me!" Harry interrupted loudly. "What do you mean he might not be lying?"

"James Potter, Sirius Black and I were best friends when we attended Hogwarts together. I have never completely believed Sirius betrayed them."

"I didn't," Sirius moaned. "It was Peter Pettigrew. And he's hiding in that boy's shirt!"

"What?!" Hermione exclaimed. "But that's just Scabbers, his rat!"

"Oh, yeah?" Duo crossed the room to Ron and unceremoniously snatched Scabbers out of Ron's pocket.

Ron let out a yelp of surprise. "Give him back!"

Duo held the half-bald rat in front of his eyes. "This is quite interesting. I get the same kind of half-thoughts I was getting from the dog. I think this rat is an animagus in animal form."

Ron goggled. "He can't be!"

"Let's see," said Lupin and he pointed his wand at Scabbers. He muttered a spell and the rat's small form suddenly elongated and became a chubby little man in a tattered suit, his straggly hair streaked with gray.

With a sudden surge of strength, Sirius shoved Roku away and jumped to his feet. He charged toward Peter Pettigrew and the former rat darted away with a squeal of fear. Harry shouted something incomprehensible and charged after Sirius, firing spells from his wand at random. Hermione dashed after Harry, trying to catch his wand hand, but mostly just managing to spoil his aim. Duo and Lupin dove to the floor to avoid getting blasted by the misfiring spells. Roku moved to block the door, apparently oblivious to the spells occasionally blasting through his fur. Ron huddled on the floor where he lay, hunched around his broken leg.

"What is the meaning of all this?!" Severus Snape shouted, appearing suddenly in the doorway. He struck an authoritarian pose and was promptly smacked in the face by one of Harry's spells. He went completely rigid and fell backward without a sound, except when his head smacked the floor with a resounding thump.

"Oops," Roku murmured.

"Harry!" Remus cried. "Get hold of yourself!"

"Somebody here killed my parents!" Harry cried. "I'll blast them both!"

"I think he's lost it," Duo said. "Gimme a second." He squeezed his eyes closed.

Suddenly, Harry clapped a hand to his forehead and stumbled to his knees. Since Hermione was right on his heels, she promptly tripped over him and sent them both sprawling.

"My head!" Harry groaned.

Duo grinned. "That should do it. Instant blinding headache."

"That's mean, Papa Duo," Roku said.

"Better than having him blow the place up with us in it." Duo stood up. "Now then…" he began, and noticed that Sirius Black was trying to strangle Peter Pettigrew. "Just a minute, stop that." He concentrated again and Sirius clapped his hands to his head with a grunt.

The instant he was released, Pettigrew shifted back into his rat form and scampered away, but he did not get far. Roku pounced on him eagerly, pinning the terrified rat to the floor with one giant paw.

"Now, then," Duo said again, "I want to hear the whole story. Mr. Black, please begin." Rubbing his temples and squinting, Sirius Black quickly explained how Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters to their deaths so many years ago. When he was done, Duo glanced at Roku. "Well?"

"He's not lying," Roku confirmed.

"The fact that Pettigrew is not dead confirms it," Remus said. "Sirius Black did not collude with the dark lord to kill James and Lily Potter."

"That's good enough for me," Duo said. "Let's take this whole mess to Dumbledore."

Pettigrew began struggling furiously and with a flick of his paw, Roku flipped him into his storage space. "That will keep him out of trouble until we need him."

"Good idea."

Harry and Hermione tried to help Ron to his feet, but Ron nearly fainted as soon as he tried to shift his leg.

"Ron needs to go to the infirmary," Hermione said.

"He might need to as well," Duo remarked. He pointed at the still unconscious Snape.

"Allow me," Remus said. He pointed his wand at Snape and the unconscious Potions master swung to his feet. "It's a marionette spell," he said. "Very useful with unconscious persons."

"Indeed," said Duo. He squatted down next to Ron. "We should immobilize this leg first. What have you got in the way of a splint, Roku?" Roku produced splints and bandages, and Duo deftly wrapped up Ron's leg. "Got any painkillers?'

"Yup." Roku pulled a bottle of pills from under his arm.

Duo shook one out onto his palm. "Just chew it."

Ron made a face, but he managed to choke the pill down.

"All right," said Duo. "Let's get out of here."

Harry and Hermione supported Ron between them and helped him carefully to his feet. The party proceeded back through the tunnel and out from under the Whomping Willow. Unfortunately, as soon as they stepped clear of the tree's branches, they were bathed in the silvery white light of the full moon.

Remus stopped in his tracks. "Oh, dear!" he murmured. With expressions ranging from stunned to highly curious, everyone watched as the slender Professor changed into a rather impressive werewolf.

"This might be a problem," Duo said.

A long, deep, angry growl rumbled from the werewolf's throat.

"This is definitely a problem," said Duo.

"I can handle him," Sirius said. "Get away!" He changed into his dog form and attacked the werewolf. The two creatures began to fight.

Roku sat down on his haunches to watch. "He's going about that all wrong. Dog attacks are designed to cripple or kill and he doesn't want to do either. They're just going to hurt each other." At that moment, Sirius raced away and Lupin ran after him. "I'll make sure they don't kill each other," Roku said and he galloped after them.

"Wait!" Harry cried and he ran after Roku, leaving Ron leaning heavily on Hermione.

"Harry!" Hermione shouted, but burdened with Ron on her shoulder, she could not follow.

Snape, who had collapsed to the ground like a sack of grain as soon as Remus' spell was no longer holding him, sat up with a groan. "What's going on?" Then his eyes focused and he scowled angrily. "Where's Black?"

"He'll be back," Duo said. "Let's get Ron to the infirmary."

"You do it," Snape growled. "I'm going to find Black." His head whipped around as snarls, yelps and angry howls indicated the fight had resumed. "Aha!" He rushed away, his robe flapping around his skinny frame.

Duo grinned at Hermione and Ron. "This has gotten rather messy, hasn't it? Let's go. That leg needs to get tended."

"But what about Harry?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"Roku will take care of him." Duo scooped Ron up without warning. "Let's go."

"I can hobble!" Ron protested, his cheeks turning bright red.

"Yeah, sure," Duo replied good-naturedly. "But this is faster." He broke into a trot.

Some distance away, Harry watched the dog and werewolf fighting in alarm. "Roku, do something! Sirius is losing!"

"Yeah, it looks like he is," Roku agreed. He jumped into the fray with his right paw raised and clouted Remus hard on the side of the head. Remus went tumbling and was momentarily stunned. When he got to his feet, he shook his head in confusion, stared at the other three briefly, and then crashed off into the underbrush, heading for the Forbidden Forest.

Sirius collapsed onto his side breathing hard, with blood streaming from several deep cuts. His dog form faded, revealing his raggedy human form.

"Oh, no!" Harry cried. He rushed to Sirius' side. "Sirius! Are you all right?!"

"I'm fine," Sirius whispered. "I'm just glad you know now that I did not kill your parents. They were my dearest friends."

A sudden drop in temperature made everyone look up. Dozens of dementors were descending on them, eager to recapture their prey. Harry gasped in dismay. Cold panic clutched at him and he completely forgot his patronus lessons, confronted by so many icy, soul-sucking monsters. He felt as if the life was being drained right out of him.

"Hmm…" Roku murmured. "Dementor flambé… Excuse me a moment, Harry."

Harry stared in alarm, his eyes flicking in panic from the horrifying aspect of the circle of dementors to Roku, who shimmered from his tiger form into a medium-size black and orange dragon. Roku sat back on his heels and shot a long jet of bright orange flame into the sky, roasting dementors indiscriminately. A second later, a brilliant cone of stark white light filled the sky, blasting the remaining dementors into an undignified retreat.

"A patronus!" Harry exclaimed weakly. He stared toward the source of the light. "Was that my father?"

"I don't think so," Roku said. He grinned. "We better get back to the castle. Get on. I'll fly you back."

"H… Hold on there!" A decidedly flustered Snape demanded. He approached slowly, his wand extended in front of him in a trembling hand. "Nobody's flying anywhere! I'm placing Sirius Black under arrest!"

"He's innocent!" Harry gasped, struggling to regain his feet.

"That's true," Roku rumbled. His voice was rather deep in his dragon form and Snape flinched away. "Anyway, Mr. Black is hurt, so I'm going to take him to the infirmary. You can meet us there."

"Wait a minute!" Snape exclaimed. He pointed his shaking wand at Roku. "I'm not afraid of you!"

Roku flicked his tail. "We really don't have time for this," he said, sounding almost annoyed. "So shoo!" He shot a thin jet of flame at Snape.

"Ah!" Snape cried. He danced back, using his wand to deflect the flame. "How… How dare you attack a teacher?!"

"You call that an attack?" Roku chuckled. "This is an attack." And he charged at Snape with a loud roar, all of his sharp white teeth glittering in the moonlight.

"AH!" Snape shrieked. He whirled around and scurried away with his arms waving above of his head. Then his feet got tangled in his robe and he went down in a heap.

Roku snapped his jaws closed and trotted back to Harry. "Ok, let's get Mr. Black on my back and get out of here. How's your levitation?"

"My what?" Harry asked in confusion. His head was still muzzy from the dementor attack.

"Never mind, I'll do it." Roku spread his wings and looked at Sirius. The injured man floated up into the air and onto Roku's back. Roku looked at Harry. "Your turn." Harry squeaked in alarm as he floated up into the air and settled onto Roku's back behind Sirius. "Make sure he doesn't fall off," Roku said, and he jumped up into the air with a sharp downstroke of his wings.

"No!" Snape howled as they flew away.

Roku landed in the courtyard, which caused quite a stir, especially when he calmly shifted back into his tiger form just as several professors and an assortment of students hurried outside, along with all the Gundam pilots except for Duo.

"What have you been doing, young man?" Quatre demanded sternly. "Why weren't you at dinner?"

"Well, um…"

"Mr. Winner," Professor McGonagall said even more sternly, "I don't recall you mentioning a dragon as one of your animal forms."

"Oh, well…"

"I say," Professor Flitwick remarked, "isn't that Sirius Black?"

"It is," Dumbledore interrupted gravely, "and there is too much going on here for everyone to be standing about discussing it. All students are to return to their houses immediately. I would like all teachers to wait for me in the Great Hall." Since Dumbledore seldom took such a firm tone, the students obeyed without protest. The teachers grumbled a lot, but they obeyed as well, even McGonagall. Dumbledore then approached Harry, who was supporting a semi-conscious Sirius Black a little unsteadily.

"He needs to go to the infirmary," Harry said.

"So it would appear," Dumbledore said. He gestured and a floating stretcher appeared. Harry eased Sirius onto the stretcher and Dumbledore floated him to the infirmary. When they arrived, Madam Pomfrey immediately took over.

Hermione, who had been sitting beside Ron's bed, rushed to Harry's side. "Harry! What happened to Professor Lupin?"

"He ran off," Harry said. He turned to Dumbledore. "Professor Dumbledore, Sirius Black did not kill my parents. It was Peter Pettigrew. Roku has him in his storage space."

Dumbledore turned sparkling eyes on Roku. "Do you really?"

"Um hm."

"Well, this is very interesting. I think I will have to keep Black under arrest for his own protection for the moment, but in the meantime, there is someone else you could save, since you seem to be in a lifesaving frame of mind."

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"I think you know, Miss Granger," Dumbledore grinned. "You should only need about three hours."

Hermione's eyes went wide. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?"

"I shall have to lock the door to this infirmary to keep anyone from entering or leaving, so you'd better hurry." Dumbledore drifted out with that wide grin still plastered on his face.

"Get close, Harry," Hermione said quickly.

"What is it?" Harry said. He stared as Hermione looped a gold chain that was around her neck around his as well.

"Do you want to come, Roku?" Hermione asked.

"No, thank you," Roku said. "Overlapping myself gives me a headache."

"What?!" Harry stared from one to the other in confusion.

"Hold still," Hermione said and she twisted a little gold hourglass charm that was attached to the chain

The world shifted and suddenly it was late afternoon.

"What did you do?!" Harry exclaimed.

"How do you think I've been getting to all my classes?" Hermione said briskly. "It's a time turner. Let's hurry. We've got to be down at Hagrid's hut in time to rescue Buckbeak before his execution."

"So that's what Dumbledore meant!"

"Right! Let's go." And the two Gryffindors raced out the infirmary door.

Back in the evening timeline, Ron stared at where Hermione and Harry had disappeared. "Did you see that?" he whispered to Roku.

"Yeah," Roku said. He plopped down on his belly and began cleaning his paws. "They'll be back. How's your leg?"

"It's better, but I hate Skelegrow."

Roku chuckled. "But won't it be better to have your leg whole by morning?"

"I guess so. Um…" Ron shifted uncomfortably. "How's Scabbers? I mean Pettigrew. Can he breathe in there?"

"He's fine. He's really not a rat, you know."

Ron scrunched down in his cot with an unhappy expression. "He's been with our family for years."

"He was hiding."

"Do you think Harry's mad at me?"

"Why would he be mad?"

"If what Black said is true…"

"Harry won't blame you. You were fooled just like everyone else." Roku sat up. "Want me to wash your face? You still have lots of dirt on it from the tunnel under the Whomping Willow."

"It's fine!" Ron said quickly. "I'm sure Madam Pomfrey would wash it if I asked."

"Why bother her?" Roku said. He hopped up onto Ron's cot and began licking his face with quick swipes of his wide tongue.

"Yuck! Roku, stop! I'd rather be dirty!"

"A good layer of spit will protect you from skin mites."

"I don't have skin mites!"

"And now you won't get any." Roku planted a paw in the middle of Ron's chest. "Hold still, I'll wash your hair."

"NOOOO!!"


	19. Buckbeak Escapes!

Chapter 19: **Buckbeak Escapes!**

"Say, Quatre," said Trowa, "would you do me a favor?"

"It doesn't involve strange sexual positions, does it?"

"Not this time," Trowa grinned. "I was wondering if you would mind sending me into the past a few hours."

"What for?"

"I want to keep Buckbeak from getting executed, but I don't want to get Hagrid in trouble. I was thinking I could try to sneak off with him after the prosecutor sees that he's tied up outside Hagrid's hut."

"That's not a bad idea. What time do you want to be at?"

"I'd need to be there right at sunset, I think."

"All right. I'll drop you in the woods behind his hut at sunset." Quatre took his spell book out of his pocket. "You don't mind going now, do you? I still have a few more papers to grade."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"Yes," Quatre said. He lifted an eyebrow. "I need to finish these papers and you keep distracting me from it."

"You didn't seem to mind." Trowa patted Quatre's bottom. "You kept moaning when I was distracting you earlier today."

"Do you mind?" Quatre pushed Trowa's hand away. "We can continue this discussion later this evening."

"I'll take that as a promise."

"Whatever." Quatre held up his spell book. "Send this man to the woods in back of Hagrid's pumpkin patch at sunset today." He opened the book and read the spell. Trowa vanished. "Finally! Now I can have some peace and quiet."

For Trowa, the world shifted and he came to rest in the middle of a grove of trees. Just ahead of him, he could see Hagrid's hut through a screen of branches. Buckbeak was visible tied to the rickety fence surrounding the pumpkin patch. But closer to him, hiding in the bushes a few meters from the fence, were Harry and Hermione.

Trowa blinked in surprise. "I say, what are you two doing here?"

"Ah!" Hermione yelped. She whirled around. "Mr. Barton! What are you doing here?"

Trowa grinned. "I asked first, but I suspect we are on the same mission." He pointed. "Rescuing Buckbeak."

"But… but…" Hermione stammered. "I just saw you in the courtyard!"

Trowa crouched down next to the two students. "I thought Roku told you that we time travel, too. How do you do it?"

Hermione paled. "What makes you think we're time-traveling?"

"That." Trowa pointed at the window, where Harry, Hermione, Ron and Roku could be seen talking to Hagrid. "And of course, you just admitted seeing me in the courtyard just now."

"Oh! Um…" Hermione flushed and her shoulders slumped. "I have a time-turner. It only shifts time back a few hours, though."

"But I guess that's all you'd need to attend twice as many classes as all the other students."

"You knew?!"

"We all knew," Trowa chuckled. "Your class schedule made it kind of obvious, but the clincher was when Roku told us you were living in parallel. That's not healthy, you know."

"I managed!"

"You've been a little high-strung, though."

"Quiet!" Harry hissed suddenly.

They scrunched down more as Cornelius Fudge and two other men, one of them carrying a huge axe, appeared. Cornelius knocked on the door to Hagrid's cabin and when Hagrid opened it, the four students visiting him slipped out the back. They hid in the pumpkin patch under Harry's invisibility cloak until the men went inside and then hurried away, with Roku floating above the other three in the form of a brown owl.

"Now!" Harry whispered urgently, and the three of them dashed out of hiding.

"Good evening, Buckbeak," Trowa said.

Buckbeak squawked in reply and briefly bowed his head.

"This execution business is a bit of a bother," Trowa continued. "These two youngsters and I were thinking you might like to avoid it."

Buckbeak squawked again and flung his head up and down.

"That's what I thought," Trowa said. He untied Buckbeak's lead. "Let's go."

The four of them trotted back into the trees and headed out into the forbidden forest as darkness fell. Behind them, they heard the thunk of the executioner's axe.

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed. "He must have just driven it into a stump!"

"What should we do now?" Harry said.

"We can't go back until after we've left," Hermione said. "We can't risk running into ourselves or letting anyone see us in two places at once."

"Let's find a comfortable spot that's not too far from the grounds," Trowa suggested. "We can head back after dark."

The four of them moved well away from Hagrid's hut, but did not go too far into the Forbidden Forest, since it was not terribly safe at night, even with a hippogriff to keep them company. They settled down in a small clearing.

Harry hung his head. "Do you think it's really true? About Sirius and Peter Pettigrew, I mean?"

Hermione nodded. "It must be. Pettigrew was supposedly killed by Sirius, but we all saw him." She scowled. "He's a servant of the Dark Lord and he betrayed your parents to their deaths."

Harry wiped his eyes. "We have to make sure they don't send Sirius back to prison."

"We will!" Hermione said decisively.

Darkness fell and they waited in silence. After what seemed like a long time, they suddenly heard the sound of shouting.

"That's us!" Hermione cried and she jumped to her feet.

They all listened closely, trying to follow the action from a distance by sound.

When silence fell, Harry frowned slightly. "This must be when Roku stopped the fight between Sirius and Professor Lupin."

"Did you see which way Professor Lupin ran?" Hermione asked nervously.

"No…" Harry began.

"I'd say he ran this way," Trowa stated calmly.

"What?!" Hermione exclaimed. A long, low growl rumbled from behind her and she whirled around.

The muscular werewolf Remus Lupin stood behind her, the lips of his long muzzle pulled back to reveal his gleaming white fangs.

"Oh, no!" Hermione cried softly.

Remus took a step toward her.

"None of that, now," Trowa said. He stepped between Hermione and Remus. "I'm quite sure it's against school rules to eat students."

Remus stopped growling and blinked in surprise.

Trowa cleared his throat and spoke in his best werewolf (which is really the same as normal wolf, except for a slight accent). "You're quite a handsome fellow as a wolf, Professor Lupin. You must be beating the girl wolves off with a stick."

Remus sat down on his haunches. "I can't say I actually know any girl wolves."

"Really?" said Trowa.

"And if I did, I'm not sure that it would be, well, the sort of relationship I should pursue."

"You're a wolf at the moment. What's wrong with it?"

"But I'm only a wolf during the full moon. I'm not the sort of person to become involved in a short term relationship like that."

Trowa grinned. "You're a decent fellow."

"I don't know about that." Remus sighed. "Had you not been here, I might have injured these two." He pointed his nose at Harry and Hermione.

"I'm sure Buckbeak would have had a thing or two to say about it."

"Ah." Remus regarded the hippogriff. "I see you rescued him. That's good."

"We'll be going to help Sirius get away in a moment," Trowa said, "but I think you should come back with us. If Quatre can't do something about your condition, I'm sure Roku can."

Remus shook his head sadly. "There is no cure for lycanthropy. The most I can do is drink the potion that suppresses my reaction to the moon. And I shouldn't go back with you. The scent of humans arouses a terrible rage in me."

"You seem pretty calm right now."

Remus blinked. "Why, that's true!" he exclaimed in surprise. "I don't understand."

"Perhaps it's the act of engaging in civilized conversation."

"Hmm…" Remus thoughtfully licked his nose. "Maybe you're right. Perhaps I should risk it."

"What are you saying?" Hermione asked curiously. Her eyes went back and forth between the man and the werewolf excitedly.

"I've just suggested that he come back with us," Trowa said. "I'm sure Quatre or Roku can do something about his condition."

"But there's no cure for lycanthropy!" Hermione exclaimed, echoing Remus' words.

Trowa chuckled. "I thought Hadeya told you Roku reassembled the world after Ragnarok. I suspect curing lycanthropy wouldn't stretch him much."

"You shouldn't get his hopes up," Hermione said uncertainly.

"I'm not," Trowa replied. "Anyway, shouldn't we be starting back?" He looked around. "Where's Harry?"

"He's right th…" Hermione stopped mid-sentence, her pointing finger aimed at nothing. "Where did he go?" A brilliant orange flash lit up the sky nearby. "That looks like fire!" Hermione cried. Before the orange light had faded, the little clearing was flooded with brilliant white light coming from the same direction. "Harry!" Hermione shouted and she raced off toward the light.

"Let's go," Trowa said in hippogriff and werewolf.

The four of them arrived just in time to see Harry and Sirius flying away on the back of a dragon.

But Harry was also standing just out of sight under the trees, watching the dragon with a bemused expression. "So it was me," he said. "I made the Patronus that saved me and Sirius from the dementors."

Hermione put a hand on his shoulder. "We should get going."

Harry nodded.

The five of them trudged back to the castle, making a wide berth around the Whomping Willow. When they neared the castle, Harry stopped and pointed. "Those are the windows of the infirmary."

"Are you sure?" asked Hermione.

Harry grinned sheepishly. "Quite sure. I've been in there enough times."

"You two go inside," Trowa said. "I'll wait out here with Buckbeak and Professor Lupin. When you're ready, have Sirius climb onto the windowsill and I'll send Buckbeak up for him."

"Ok."

The two students hurried inside. The hallways were empty, and they arrived at the infirmary door just as Dumbledore was about to lock it.

"Ah! Good timing! I assume everything went as planned."

"Nearly," Harry said. "We just have one more thing to finish and then it will be all done."

"Very good, very good." Dumbledore beamed at them. "Well, you better hurry inside. I think young Mister Weasley will be glad to see you as well."

"Ron?" Harry glanced at Hermione with raised eyebrows and she shrugged. They entered the infirmary and Dumbledore locked the door behind them. The screens around the beds had been pulled into place to give the patients privacy as they slept. At least the ones who were sleeping, anyway.

"I'm not dirty there!" Ron cried.

"What?" said Harry.

"That doesn't need to be washed!" Ron wailed. "Stop! Ouch! Don't lick that!"

"Ron, what the hell are you going on about?" Hermione said impatiently, and they stepped around the screen blocking their view of his bed.

A nearly naked Ron Weasley was pinned to his bed by two giant tiger paws, getting an alarmingly thorough tongue bath. Hermione turned bright red and darted back behind the screen.

"Harry! Hermione!" Ron cried. "Help me! I don't need any more washing!"

"Quit whining," Roku said. "I'm almost finished."

"Not there!" Ron howled. "Don't wash that!"

Harry turned red to the roots of his hair and blinked several times. "Um… Roku… I know you're a tiger and all, but should you really be licking that?"

With a final swipe of his tongue, Roku released Ron and hopped off the bed. "There, all done."

"Thank god!" Ron groaned. He scrambled for the bed sheets and yanked them up over his red, glistening skin. "You have no idea what I've been through!" he wailed to Harry. "It was horrible!"

"You should take more baths," Roku advised. "Just because you're covered with clothes doesn't mean you're properly clean."

"I've never been so humiliated in my life!" Ron moaned. He scrunched down further into the bed. "Promise me you won't tell anyone!"

"Uh, yeah," Harry said. Then he smacked his forehead. "I'm sorry. I need to be doing something else right now." He hurried to the bed where Sirius was lying on his side, an enormous grin on his face.

"I have to admit that was one of the more amusing things I've ever witnessed," Sirius said.

"Sirius," Harry said, "I've got a hippogriff parked outside waiting to take you away from here. We believe you're innocent, but Professor Dumbledore thinks it might be better for you to go into hiding for now; at least until after they talk to Peter Pettigrew."

"Harry!" Sirius exclaimed. "Thank you! Hearing you say you believe me means more to me than all the rest." He sat up. "Do you know what happened to Remus?"

"He's outside, too. Mister Barton thinks Roku or Professor Winner will be able to cure him."

"Cure him? Really?" Sirius blinked in surprise. "Imagine that!"

"Anyway, we shouldn't waste any time. Buckbeak is wanted, too."

"Of course." Sirius slipped off the bed. "But I thought I heard Dumbledore lock the door."

"He did. Buckbeak's waiting outside the window." Harry hurried to the window and threw open the casement. He leaned out, scanning the dark outside. "There he is! Climb into the window."

Sirius climbed through the window and sat on the sill with Harry bracing him from behind. A moment later, Buckbeak flew up to the window, flapping hard to hover with his tail toward the window. Sirius leaped onto his back and the hippogriff immediately flew away, the bright moonlight turning his wings to silver.

"What a pretty sight!" Hermione said from behind Harry.

Harry sighed. "I wonder how long it will be before I get to see him again."

"Not too long, I hope," Hermione said.

Ron just groaned.

Outside, Trowa turned to Remus. "Now that that's taken care of, why don't we go talk to Quatre?"

Remus nodded.

Man and wolf entered the castle and went to the Gundam pilots' suite. Not surprisingly, everyone was still in the common room.

"You're back!" Quatre said. Then he blinked at Remus. "Who's that?"

"Professor Lupin. He has a werewolf issue."

"Oh, of course. Roku mentioned that. Good evening, Professor."

Remus growled a response.

"He says good evening," Trowa translated.

Quatre rubbed his chin. "So, you're a lycanthrope. That's very interesting, you know. Merlin was fascinated by moon-phase illnesses like lycanthropy. He tried a number of spells and counter-curses but never came up with anything that worked quite right. He did have one spell that he rather liked, but it had a side-effect of causing the former werewolf to sprout flowers from the top of his head whenever he or she went out in the sun. Not a terrible problem, really, but a little embarrassing. And then there was this one other side-effect where the person grew hair constantly all over his or her body. "

Remus made a coughing sound.

Trowa chuckled. "He would prefer not to become a garden in place of turning into a werewolf."

Quatre waved a hand. "I never learned that spell anyway. I think we should let Roku do this. Lycanthropy is a genetic mutation. If we were on Mars, I might be able to do something, but I just don't have the right equipment here. Duo, do you mind summoning Roku?"

"Sure." Duo closed his eyes. "Ok, he's on his way."

Roku arrived a few minutes later. "Did you want me, Mama?"

"Yes. Can you cure Professor Remus here of his lycanthropy?"

"I suppose, but where's the fun in that? It only lasts for a few nights and he's a handsome wolf."

Remus ran his tongue out in a toothy smile.

"He said the smell of humans causes him to go into a terrible rage," Trowa said. "We think he's not feeling it now because I can talk to him, but we aren't going to be here forever."

"Ok." Roku sat down facing Remus. "It's in your genetic code, you know. Taking it out might cause other genetic malfunctions. I'm not as good at recombinant DNA as Mama." He studied Remus carefully. "Or… hmm…" He licked Remus' nose. "I think I can give you control over the change. That way, you can change whenever you want, not just when the moon is full."

Remus blinked.

"Let's try that," Roku said. He rattled off a long Latin phrase. "There. Now try to be human."

Remus whined.

"Just remember what you feel like when you're a man," Roku advised, "and then squeeze your body into the feeling."

Remus closed his eyes and went very still. A moment later, his outlines blurred and shifted, and then, suddenly, a completely naked Remus Lupin was sitting on the floor in front of Roku.

Jett squealed. "He's got no pants on!"

Alexa giggled.

Remus flushed.

Hadeya grabbed a throw from a nearby couch and tossed it around Remus' shoulders.

"Thank you," Remus said. Then he smiled beatifically at Roku. "And thank you most sincerely, Mister Winner."

"You're welcome. I think you shouldn't feel that rage anymore either."

"This is something I never even dared to dream about," Remus said. "You've completely changed my life."

"That's what we do," Heero muttered, "go around changing lives and history."

"But you've got to admit it's pretty cool," Duo said.

"So is that how shape-changing works?" Wu-Fei asked. "If so, how then do you change into something you've never been before?"

Roku shrugged. "I guess you just have to imagine what it would feel like to be the creature you want to be. Or use a spell, like Mama does."

"So you're saying that someone with a predisposition to be more than one shape can just change into whatever they like as long as they can imagine it?"

"Pretty much."

Wu-Fei stared speculatively at Jett. "Jett shares your DNA, mostly."

"Except for being a girl, yeah."

"So could she change shapes?"

"Probably."

Quatre slapped a hand over his face and groaned. "Did you have to ask that?"

"You suspected it all along!" Duo accused.

"I didn't see any reason to bring it up. One shape-changing youngster in the family is enough, in my opinion."

Alexa clapped her hands. "Yay! Jett! Be a kitty!"

Jett pursed her lips thoughtfully. "What kind of kitty?"

"A black kitty! Like the one we saw in that book. I like those."

"What book?" Duo asked worriedly.

"This book," Hadeya said, lifting the book in question from the table next to where Alexa was sitting.

"Oh no!" Duo exclaimed. "Jett, wait!"

But Jett had a sharp look of concentration on her face. Blue light began shimmering around her and a second later, she morphed into the shape of a black cat. Except it was not just a cat. It was more of a kitten. A really big kitten.

"They were reading the Jungle Book," Duo groaned.

"That's a panther cub," Zechs noted.

"Yay!" Alexa squealed. She hugged Jett tightly. "You're so soft!"

"Mmrowr!" Jett said, and the room echoed.

"She still has her voice, I see," Treize remarked.

"Now we have two big cats in the family," Trowa said. "That's kind of nice." He knelt down next to Jett and stroked her fur. "I'll teach you how to balance on a ball just like Roku."

"Mmmrrr," Jett purred, and she licked his face.

"You are a most remarkable family," Remus said. "I am very glad you decided to come to Hogwarts."


	20. End of Term

Chapter 20: **End of Term**

"My skin is still raw!" Ron grumbled irritably.

"You do look a little like you have a rash," Hermione said. She studied him curiously. "Is it really… all over?"

"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, scandalized, his cheeks turning red from embarrassment.

"Oh yeah, he's red pretty much everywhere," Harry said breezily.

"Harry!"

"Maybe you should wear a kilt or something," Hermione suggested.

Harry nodded in agreement. "She's right. If you go traditional, you know, commando style, it might be more comfortable."

"Can we please stop discussing the state of my personal parts?" Ron demanded loudly.

"We're just concerned about you, Ron," Hermione said, trying to put on a sympathetic expression.

Harry was not so kind. "Don't be so sensitive," he snickered. "And besides, I saw Roku licking your…"

"Ok! Fine!" Ron shouted. "I think we've quite exhausted this topic of conversation!"

Roku chose that particular moment to saunter into the Gryffindor lounge, padding silently down the stairs from the boys' dormitory. "Who wants to take a bath?"

"Augh!" Ron cried. He leaped to his feet and dashed out of the room in a panic, his mournful cry of "No more baths!" trailing behind him.

Roku blinked. "I meant in the tub."

Harry broke up laughing. "I figured that."

Hermione struggled to suppress a grin. "Can't you do anything about his skin, Roku? He's too embarrassed to go to Madam Pomfrey."

"I can if he ever lets me anywhere near him again," Roku chuckled. "So, you guys want to bathe?"

"Uh, not right now," Hermione said quickly.

"Sure, I'll go," Harry said. "See you later, Hermione."

As they stepped out through the portrait hole, Roku turned to the left.

"That's not the way to the bathroom we usually use."

"I know," Roku said. "But Draco's this way. Since he's hanging around, I thought we could take him with us. He was pretty fun playing Mobile Suit Attack last time."

"You nearly drowned him."

"But he likes being with you."

"Don't start that again."

"He kissed you, remember?"

"I'm trying not to."

"You should give him a tumble. It would make him really happy."

"Do… what?!" Harry stared with his mouth open.

"He'd probably let you go on top." Roku paused. "Why is it that blonds are always the bottoms?" Harry gaped silently. "Of course, Papa Duo and Papa Wu-Fei go both ways, so I guess it isn't one hundred percent. But then," he continued speculatively, "is one technically a bottom if one does go both ways? And in Papa Duo's case, since he'll do girls, too, I'm really not sure. Now Hadeya likes doing boys and girls, so I think he's just bi. But of course, does that term really apply to a demigod? Because I think gods and demigods are allowed to screw pretty much whomever they want. But getting back to the original point about blonds always being bottoms, I think we should do a study. Maybe there's a genetic link."

"Unh…"

"Unless you want to be on the bottom."

"I don't want to be on the bottom!"

A group of students passing by them on the stairs stared at Harry as they went by.

"What do you suppose Potter's shouting about?" someone whispered.

"Who knows? He's a little cracked, they say," someone else whispered back.

Harry hung his head. "Would you stop making me say such weird things?" he mumbled.

They found Draco at the bottom of the stairs trying not to look like he was hanging around waiting for anybody. "Oh, it's you, Potter," he said diffidently. "Off to visit Hagrid, are you?"

"Actually, no," Harry said. "Um, Roku was wondering if you'd like to take a bath with us."

Draco looked nervously at the young tiger. "I don't know. It's pretty dangerous, I think."

"Nonsense," Roku said. "The tubs are shallow and you can swim. How bad can it be?"

"I was coughing up water for an hour last time."

"It couldn't have been more than ten minutes. And you never stopped breathing."

"I'd have gotten less water in my lungs if I had!"

"See!" Roku cried gleefully. "You know the technique! Let's go!" He grabbed Draco's sleeve in his mouth and started dragging him up the stairs.

"Harry!" Draco cried.

"I'm coming." Harry trudged up the stairs after them, trying not to make eye contact with Draco.

Roku dragged Draco all the way to the bathroom. "Let's get naked and wet!" he cried and leaped into the water.

"You're already naked!" Harry complained. "And now we're wet!"

"So take your clothes off and get in."

Harry stripped quickly, took off his glasses, and plunged into the tub. Draco undressed more slowly, keeping his back to the other two. Then he scurried to the side and slid into the water quickly, his cheeks scarlet.

"Shall we do a melee or two on one?" Roku asked. "I don't mind if you want to team up against me."

"Let's do that!" Draco said quickly. He edged closer to Harry, watching Roku nervously.

"Ok," Roku said. "Let's do a Cancer mobile suit underwater battle. That's always fun."

Draco paled and grasped Harry's arm. "Promise you'll revive me if I drown."

"You're not going to drown."

"You say that now," Draco said worriedly.

"Ready, set, go!" Roku shouted and he disappeared under the water. A second later, with a squeal of fear, Draco was yanked out of sight. Harry dove underwater and torpedoed into Roku's side, causing him to release Draco's ankle from between his jaws.

Harry bounced up to the surface. "Attack his other side!" he shouted at Draco, who was floundering on the surface, kicking wildly.

"Doesn't he have to breathe?!"

"I don't think so. Let's go!"

They both dove under the water. The battle raged for several long seconds before all three exploded to the surface.

"I think we're winning!" Harry exclaimed, and then he was swamped under by twice his weight in wet tiger. Later, when all three were collapsed on the cool damp tile by the side of the pool, their chests heaving, Harry groaned. "How could we lose? There were two of us!"

"I've had more practice," Roku said matter-of-factly. He licked a paw. "And it didn't help that Draco started drowning at the end there."

"I wasn't drowning!" Draco gasped out. "There was just more water than air in my lungs!"

"I think that's the definition of drowning," Harry wheezed.

"Anyway, it was pretty fun," Draco continued after another fit of coughing. "I wouldn't mind doing this again."

"Well, you'll have to do it without me, I'm afraid," Roku said. "We'll be going home at the end of the term."

Harry sat up. "And you won't be coming back?"

"No. It will be Alexa's turn to pick the next vacation. She hasn't gotten to yet."

"What do you mean, vacation?" Draco asked. He sat up on his elbows.

"Um… When we time travel, we usually return to just after when we left, so it's kind of like going on a vacation."

"But you've been here for months!"

"I know, but how long we stay somewhere doesn't affect how long we're gone. We go back to whatever day we want. When Alexa was born, we were only gone overnight."

"That's really weird. Don't people notice you getting older?"

"Sometimes."

Draco shook his head.

"Excuse me a minute." Roku closed his eyes. "It's Papa Duo. Professor Dumbledore wants to see me. It's probably about Peter Pettigrew. I suppose they want him back now."

"Is he still in your storage space?" Harry asked.

"Yeah."

"How long can he live in there?"

"Indefinitely." Roku stood up. "I better go. You two should play some more. It's good to relax after finals." He trotted out the door.

Harry glanced at Draco and looked away.

Draco sat up and moved closer. "Uh, Harry? Do you remember that night my father beat me up?"

"Yes."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No. Why?"

"Well, you were kind of surprised when I kissed you."

"Who wouldn't be?!" Harry swung around and faced him. "Why did you kiss me?"

Draco blushed. "I've kind of always wanted to. And that night, I thought… I don't know." He ducked his head. "Would you mind if I did it again?"

"What?!"

"I mean, if you really don't want to, I'll understand."

Harry swallowed. This was a very uncomfortable conversation to be having buck-naked with another boy who was also buck-naked. He swallowed again. "I guess, if you really want to, I don't mind. It's just… well… are you… that way?"

Draco blushed so hard even his scalp turned scarlet, making his pale hair look pink. "I didn't think I was, but…"

Harry sighed. "How did you want to…?"

"Close your eyes."

Harry closed his eyes. A moment later, Draco's lips pressed against his. He had to resist the urge to pull away at first. But after that, it started to feel kind of nice. And after that, it started to feel really nice. Draco pulled away and Harry opened his eyes.

"How was that?" Draco asked anxiously.

"Ok, I guess." Harry flushed. "It's kind of embarrassing to be asked a question like that after getting kissed by a guy."

"I suppose." Draco studied his face. "So can I do it again?"

"Um…" Harry blinked nervously.

"You know," Draco said softly, "your eyes are pretty without your glasses." He touched Harry's cheek. "And I think you're really cute." He kissed Harry again, and this time he pushed him down onto the tiles.

"This is getting out of hand!" Harry thought to himself. But he did not stop Draco from kissing him, and in fact he kept kissing back.

A few hallways away, Roku grinned. Not long after, he arrived at the foot of the hidden staircase leading to Dumbledore's office.

Professor McGonagall was waiting for him. "I think you should change into human form, Mr. Winner," she said.

Roku shifted to human form and followed her up the stairs. There were several older wizards in Dumbledore's office, including Cornelius Fudge and Lucius Malfoy.

Duo was also there, lounging in a chair with an amused grin on his face. "You need to teach Harry not to broadcast," he whispered to Roku, chuckling.

"Like you don't when you're being naughty," Roku whispered back.

"But everyone expects it from me."

"Hush!" Roku shushed him.

"Ah, Mr. Winner," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "Thank you for coming."

"Is it about Peter Pettigrew?"

"Indeed it is!" Dumbledore beamed at him. "Would you mind presenting him to the committee?"

Roku slipped a hand under his left arm and produced the skinny, mangy, flea-bitten rat, holding him out by the scruff of the neck. Pettigrew squealed in panic and struggled in his grip, his beady little eyes flicking around the room in alarm. Dumbledore pulled out his wand and tapped the rat once. Instantly, the little body expanded into a dumpy, middle-aged man with graying hair and protruding front teeth. His tattered, out-of-date suit looked like it had not been washed in decades.

"There you are, ladies and gentlemen," Dumbledore said. "I present the very-much-alive Peter Pettigrew as evidence that he was not murdered by Sirius Black."

"But that still does not prove Black was not responsible for the deaths of the Potters!" Lucius exclaimed. He glared at Pettigrew. "It only proves that this… rodent… has been hiding for years like the coward he is."

"Hiding from what?" McGonagall asked icily. "Black was in Azkaban. He could hardly attack Pettigrew again, if he ever did attack him. I am inclined to believe Black's version of what happened, as reported by Mr. Maxwell."

"Mr. Maxwell is a telepath," Dumbledore added. "He would have known if Black was lying."

Lucius turned his glare on Duo. "And what makes you think this muggle isn't lying about the whole thing?" he sniffed.

"Because I have no reason to," Duo said. "None of this really matters to me and lying takes effort." He winked at Lucius. "And I know what the term 'death eater' means, too."

Lucius stiffened. He cleared his throat. "Of course, I'm only an observer in this situation. I'm only offering my opinions."

"Of course," Dumbledore said. He turned to Fudge. "What do you think, Cornelius?"

"Well," Cornelius said, a little fussily, "it would be better if I could take testimony directly from Sirius Black. But absent that, I will accept Mr. Maxwell's deposition in his stead. With the testimony we will extract from Mr. Pettigrew," he glared pointedly at that unfortunate gentleman, "I think we can resolve this matter to everyone's satisfaction. Place Mr. Pettigrew under arrest. We will turn him over to the dementors and withdraw them from the school grounds."

"Finally!" McGonagall muttered.

"No!" Pettigrew cried, but Dumbledore quickly wrapped him in a restraining spell and he was led away. Most of the other wizards filed out at that time, leaving only Dumbledore, McGonagall, Duo and Roku. Lucius Malfoy was the last to leave, and he glared darkly back at them until the turn of the stairs took him from view.

"I hope he doesn't look for Draco," Roku murmured. "I don't think they're finished yet."

Duo chuckled. "First-timers just can't seem to get enough."

"So I understand you will be leaving soon," Dumbledore said.

"That's right," Duo replied. "When the students leave, we'll be heading home, too."

Dumbledore nodded. "I have to admit, I'll miss you. Your group has made this one of Hogwarts' most interesting years."

"It has been fun," Duo agreed.

"And what about you, young Mr. Winner? Did you learn everything you hoped to?"

"Yes, sir," Roku said. "I've enjoyed studying at Hogwarts very much."

"Good. Of course, you're welcome to return next year, but I'll understand if that won't work out for you." He made eye contact with McGonagall and she rounded the others up.

"All right, time to let Professor Dumbledore get back to work," she said. She shooed them down the stairs and closed the entrance behind them.

In the hall, Duo grinned at Roku. "There's supposed to be a pretty big feast tonight to celebrate the end of term."

"And then everyone goes home right after, including us." Roku sighed. "I'll miss Harry and the others."

"It's not like you can't visit them again if you want to."

"That's true."

"Well…" Duo patted his stomach. "I wouldn't mind a snack before dinner. What about you?"

"A snack sounds good."

"I know how to get in the kitchen."

"Let's go."

At the end-of-term dinner, the Great Hall was festively done up in red and gold decorations to reflect that Gryffindor had once again won the House Cup. The Gryffindor table was understandably rowdy, but not so much so that Harry could not hear when Roku leaned over and whispered into his ear, "You look satisfied."

Harry flushed redder than the stripe in his scarf. "How do you know…?" He quickly looked around. "Don't tell anyone!" he squeaked in alarm. "I mean… with a guy… and a Slytherin at that…"

Roku grinned. "I won't tell. But someone may figure it out anyway if Draco doesn't quit staring at you." He nodded toward the Slytherin table. Draco was leaning on one hand, idly consuming a piece of fried chicken and staring at Harry with a completely blissful expression on his face.

"Oh, lord!" Harry gasped. He quickly looked away. "What have you gotten me into?"

"A very satisfying relationship, from the look of it."

Harry buried his face in his hands. "I'll be kicked out of Gryffindor if anyone finds out."

"People take lovers from different houses all the time."

"But a Slytherin?!"

Roku chuckled. "But you like him, don't you?"

Harry groaned. "It felt so good!" he finally whispered hoarsely. "And he's not so bad when he isn't being all arrogant."

"You'll be good for him," Roku said. He patted Harry's shoulder. "He probably just needed to get laid all along."

"What are you two talking about?" Ron interrupted. He was sitting on the far side of the table across from Harry, well out of Roku's reach. Hermione was seated next to him, and she was studying Harry's face curiously.

"Nothing!" Harry said quickly. "Roku was just saying that he and his family will be leaving right after the train pulls out tomorrow."

"Will you be back next year?" Hermione asked. "You aced all your finals."

"No, unfortunately," Roku said. A commotion started just down the table when a little black panther appeared between the plates, trying to make off with a whole roast chicken. "Jett!" Roku admonished. "I told you no changing at the dinner table."

"Aw!" Jett mumbled.

"You can keep the chicken, just change back."

"Oh, alright." The panther shimmered back into Jett, who slid off the table back into her seat beside Alexa. "But I couldn't reach it and no one was passing." She grinned. "I didn't wanna shout."

Roku grinned back. "Well, that's all right, then."

Everyone was staring.

"Your sister is an animagus, too?" Percy exclaimed. He was feeling much better these days since Penny had finally forgiven him, although there were rumors this was due to his vigorous and repeated efforts to outperform Hadeya.

"She just learned how," Roku said. "It runs in the family."

Hermione scratched her head. "But I thought Mr. Maxwell was her, ah, mother?"

"But she has genetic material from all of them, like I do."

"Genetic material…" Percy stammered. "From… all of them? How is that possible?"

Roku opened his mouth but Harry clapped a hand over it. "Don't ask! He might actually explain it."

There were vigorous nods all around. Quite a number of Gryffindors had been on the receiving end of Roku's explanations.

Percy cleared his throat. "Well, it's certainly been an… experience… having you here, Roku. I'm sure people will be talking about this year for a long time."

"I certainly won't forget," Harry muttered.

"I had a good time," Roku said. "Thank you, everyone, for being such good friends."

Up and down the table, cups were lifted in a toast. "You're welcome, Roku!"

The next day was both happy and sad as people prepared for the long train ride home. Even though he had been given control over his lycanthropy, Remus decided to resign anyway to preserve peace at the school. As he explained it to Harry and the others, "Severus would make everyone's life a living hell if I stayed, and besides, I want to go look for Sirius. We have some catching up to do."

The Gundam pilots and their kids went to the train station with all their baggage just like everyone else, but they did not get in the train. Instead, they stood on the platform and waved goodbye as the train pulled out. When it was gone, Quatre looked around.

"So, that's it, then. Time to head back to Mars. Gather up all the stuff." But he really did not need to tell anyone that. They were used to the routine by now. "Alright-y then; here we go. Let's return two weeks after our departure at midnight."

"Why midnight?" Duo complained. "We won't get a full night's sleep!"

"Because no one is up at midnight," Quatre said pointedly. He flipped open his spell book. "Everyone ready? Very good." He read the spell and the world fluttered away. They came to rest in the middle of their living room, exactly as they left it. Quatre smiled. "That went smoothly."

Wu-Fei sneezed, a thin jet of bright yellow flame flickering between his lips. "Sorry! I'll go take my meds." He trotted to the bathroom.

Heero shouldered his and Wu-Fei's bags. "We may as well unpack. It was morning when we left. I must say, it's kind of nice not to have to make fake records as soon as we get back for a change." He nudged Duo. "Get your stuff."

"Right." Duo hefted his bags and trailed after Heero.

"Do you mind unpacking for me, Trowa?" Quatre said. "I want to catch up on what's been happening in our absence."

"No problem." Trowa grabbed their bags and headed for their room.

"We should get back to our place," Treize said the Zechs. "I want to call up the security cameras in the farming dome and see how my vineyard's doing."

"Sure."

Zechs, Treize and Alexa left, leaving Roku, Jett, Hadeya and Quatre alone in the living room.

"That was a fun trip, Mama," Roku said. "Thanks for taking me to visit a book."

"You're quite welcome, Roku. I had rather a good time myself." He lifted an eyebrow at Hadeya. "I daresay you did as well."

Hadeya flushed. "About that," he said uncertainly. "Those young women I, ah, coupled with were fictional characters. So does that mean I really did it?"

Quatre rubbed his chin. "Good question. It might fall into the category of a wet dream. But there's no question you banged Duo, so I'm afraid you are definitely no longer a virgin."

Hadeya flushed. "Yes, of course," he said quickly. "Please excuse me." He scurried away to his bedroom.

Jett frowned. "I'm hungry."

"Me, too," Roku said. "Let's have some cereal."

"Yay!"

The two youngsters went into the kitchen and Quatre was left alone. He scratched his head. "Well, time to get back to work." He sat down at the computer terminal and logged into the main computer. "Here's wishing for a few quiet months of solid scientific work."

-o- The End -o-

_And thus ends another installment of the exciting adventures of the Gundam Wing pilots! As you know, this was the first cross-over in the series, and I had so much fun writing it that I'm going to do it again! That's right! The next entry in my Gundam Wing series is a three part epic: __**The Lord of the Gundams**__! First up will be __**The Fellowship of the Gundam**__, followed by __**The Two Gundams**__, and finishing out with the climactic __**The Return of the Gundam**__! Stay tuned!_


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